Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said his government was struggling to get the revised cost of Polavaram project (roughly ₹55,560 crore) sanctioned by the Centre because his predecessor N. Chandrababu Naidu had agreed to construct it at 2010-11 price level.
Obviously, the project cost has since gone up steeply and convincing the Centre that the revised cost estimate was justified proved to be difficult.
The TDP government had undertaken the construction of the project in spite of it being a national project supposed to be entirely funded by the Centre, to award the contract to Navayuga Engineering Company Limited, which it did for kickbacks.
Intervening during the question hour when Water Resources Minister Ambati Rambabu was confronted by TDP MLA Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary on the issue of compensation payable to the evacuees of Polavaram project, Jagan Mohan Reddy said another historic blunder was constructing the diaphragm wall without completing the cofferdams.
“As a result, the diaphragm wall was damaged and repairing it turned out to be a challenging task both in terms of the expertise and funds required,” the CM observed.
Jagan Mohan Reddy pointed out that the Centre was due to reimburse ₹2,900 crore spent by the State on Polavaram even after several representations by him.
Also, Mr. Reddy reiterated the government’s resolve to build the Polavaram dam to a height of 41.15 metres in the initial stage and raise it to 45.72 metres subsequently.
As far as the Relief & Rehabilitation (R&R) package was concerned, he said the government was committed to giving ₹10 lakh to each one of the beneficiaries, for which a G.O was also issued. The R&R package given by the TDP government was approximately ₹6.90 lakh.
Earlier, Mr. Rambabu said had it been another country where the ‘institutions cannot be managed’, Mr. Naidu would be hanged for committing massive irregularities in the (Polavaram) project, triggering loud protests by the TDP MLAs.
