BJP State general secretary S. Vishnuvardhan Reddy said the Polavaram project was in dire straits as both the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and TDP governments had misused funds given by the Centre, and were least bothered about the physical progress of the project. The two parties, in a bid to derive political mileage, have made false allegations that the Central government froze the funds, he said.
In a press release on Sunday, Mr. Vishnuvardhan Reddy wondered if the Central government had ever refused to reimburse the expenditure incurred on the project. In fact, the TDP government failed to complete the project in spite of an assurance given by the Centre that the expenditure would be fully reimbursed as it was a national project.
The BJP leader said much time had been wasted in the process of changing the contractors midway and large sums were diverted for other purposes.
People hoped that the project would be completed by the YSRCP government, but to no avail as Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy took the retrograde step of inviting reverse tenders. The project made little progress in the last four-and-a-half years due to the State government’s inefficiency, Mr. Vishnuvardhan Reddy added.
