The Capital News
Eluru: Andhra Pradesh chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has expressed deep dissatisfaction over the current state of the Polavaram project, describing it as completely derailed. He voiced his pain and agony over the condition of the project, which is considered the lifeline of Andhra Pradesh.
Reflecting on past efforts, Chandrababu recalled that after winning the 2014 elections, he foresaw the necessity of merging seven mandals from Telangana into Andhra Pradesh to mitigate the Polavaram flood area, which was achieved through a special cabinet ordinance by the then NDA government.
He reminded that the Polavaram project, initiated by Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in 2005, was already mired in crisis and allegations. Following the State’s bifurcation, Polavaram was declared a national project.
Chandrababu noted that the dam’s designed height of 45.72 meters ensures 194 TMC of water storage, but the previous administration attempted to reduce this height. The spillway was designed to discharge 50 lakh cusecs of water, a capacity comparable only to China’s Three Gorges Dam.
Chandrababu severely criticized former CM Jagan Mohan Reddy, stating that Jagan’s entry into politics was a catastrophic mistake. “His coming is not wrong; it’s an unforgivable crime,” Chandrababu lamented, blaming the YSRCP government’s reverse tendering policies for the project’s setbacks. He highlighted that within five days of taking office, the contracting agency was changed, leading to significant damages.
The 2020 floods damaged 35 percent of the diaphragm wall, which was hastily repaired at a cost of Rs. 480 crores. He explained that the diaphragm wall suffered due to the lack of a copper dam, estimating the cost of building a new parallel wall at Rs. 447 crore, and Rs. 990 crore for a complete reconstruction. He criticized the construction of two copper dams at Rs. 550 crore and the anticipated Rs. 2,000 crore expenditure on the Copper Dam Gap, stressing that it will take four years to complete the project amid existing seepages and potential flood damages.
Chandrababu questioned the efficacy of reverse tendering by Jagan’s administration. He accused the former CM of incompetence and blamed him for improperly implementing the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) package, thus complicating the project further.
