Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed the officials of the Water Resources Department to mobilise ₹6,000 crore from the Central government on an ad hoc basis for expediting the construction of the Polavaram project.
This amount is over and above the ₹2,900 crore that Centre owes to the State towards reimbursement of the expenditure incurred by it on the national project.
Addressing a review meeting on the impact of floods on the Polavaram project and the status of pending irrigation projects, at his camp office on Thursday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the officials should secure ₹6,000 crore on an ad hoc basis rather than as component-wise reimbursement, to speed up the project work, and directed the officials to pay special attention to the head works and connectivity between its right and left canals.
Further, the Chief Minister ordered the officials to take steps to fill the gaps in the earth-cum-rockfill dam at the project.
The officials told him that nine types of tests were required to fill those gaps, and some of them (tests) had already been completed. The remaining would be done after the floods recede, they said.
They further said that the lower cofferdam works were also disrupted due to floods, and they could be resumed only after the water level falls below two lakh cusecs.
Veligonda project
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy instructed the officials to complete the second tunnel of the Veligonda project by the end of 2023.
The officials told him that the second stage works of the Vamsadhara project were almost done, and the project would be ready for inauguration in October.
They added that the Nellore and Mekapati Goutham Reddy Sangam barrage works were set for inauguration by the third week of August.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to speed up the construction of the Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanti, Mahendratanaya, Tarakaramathirtha Sagar, Gajapathinagaram branch canal, Joladarasi, Rajolibanda, Kundu lift and Vedavati projects.
Water Resources Minister Ambati Rambabu, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Principal Secretary Sasibhushan Kumar, Special Chief Secretary (finance) S.S. Rawat, and Engineer-in-Chief Narayana Reddy were present.
