Nellore: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has expressed confidence about completing the first phase of the Veligonda Project and supplying water by February.
He was addressing media persons at the Veligonda project guest house in Prakasam district after a review with project officials and contractors on Friday.
He said, out of the 7 packages of the project, 5 packages would be completed this year and the balance 2 packages in the next season.
Claiming that he was giving priority to the Velugonda project, like the Polavaram project, he said the expenditure was Rs 4832 crore so far as against the estimate of Rs 5564 crore.
While assuring release of the balance funds, he promised to take steps to pay the compensation of Rs 621 crore to the people displaced from the project area.
The CM said they would opt for new technology to provide water through lift irrigation by next February in case of any delay. He attributed the snail’s pace of progress in the project to the negligence of contractors and some technical problems.
Pointing to the efforts to speed up the works of the Polavaram project, he alleged that the Centre had failed to release Rs 3200 crore and also not approved the detailed project report so far.
He said the efforts to establish an industrial corridor and a paper mill, apart from a port at Ramayapatnam in Prakasam district, were opposed by some vested interests.
Irrigation minister Devineni Umamaheswar Rao, legislators Kadiri Babu Rao, M. Ashok Reddy, P. David Raju, collector V. Vinay Chand and joint collector Naga Lakshmi were present with the CM.
The police fortified the entire project area as it was located close to the Nallamala forest which had been a home for Maoists in the past. As many as 600 police personnel were deployed for security arrangements under the supervision of SP B Satya Yesu Babu and other senior officers.
