Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and former Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao on Saturday said YSRCP government in the State was unable to get the financial approval from the Centre for the Polavaram project’s estimated cost of ₹55,548 crore due to the “inefficiency of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.”
Addressing the media, Mr. Umamaheswara Rao sought explanation on the steps taken to rehabilitate the project oustees during the YSRCP rule so far.
Referring to Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajender Singh Shekhawat’s visit to the Polavaram project on Friday, the TDP leader said, instead of mounting pressure on the Centre to fulfill the aspirations of the people of the State, the Chief Minister meekly pleaded for funds to complete the project. The Chief Minister also claimed credit for the houses built for the project evacuees by the TDP government, Mr. Umamaheswara Rao alleged.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy should explain to the people about the funds his government had spent on the relief and rehabilitation, the TDP leader said, and found fault with the government offering to reduce the project cost to ₹47,725 crore, thereby reducing the size of the project.
Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said that when the TDP was in power, it had secured the Centre’s approval for ₹55,548 crore towards DPR-2. The technical advisory committee had to clear it now, but the YSRCP government was unable to get it sanctioned, he said, accusing the Chief Minister of forfeiting the interests of the State “in order to wriggle himself out of the multiple cases being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.”
Stating that the government had chosen to buy power at the rate of ₹15 to ₹20 per unit from the open market when it could have generated more than 960 MW of hydel power and offered electricity to the consumers for a mere ₹1 per unit had the Polavaram project been completed by now.
“The YSRCP government has failed to keep its promise on completion of the Polavaram project. The Union Minister’s directive that the project works should be reviewed every fortnight reflected the neglect of it by the ruling party,” he said.
