Polavaram Works to Be Completed by March 2027, Says CM

Vijayawada:Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has promised to complete the Polavaram irrigation project works on Godavari river at Polavaram by March, 2027 to fulfill the dream of the people for decades.

Naidu took an aerial view of the project and later visited the site to inspect the progress of works at Polavaram on Monday.

Later, he told the media that by releasing Godavari water into the Polavaram left main canal, the government would offer Akhanda Harathi for the arrival of water at Anakapalli on August 14.

The project would benefit the erstwhile East and West Godavari districts, Visakhapatnam, Krishna and Guntur districts in a big way. It would help supply of water to 7.2 lakh acres additionally, stabilize the ayacut in 23.5 lakh acres, ensure supply of potable water to 28.5 lakh people, provide 23.44 tmc of water to meet industrial needs and facilitate generation of 960 mw of hydroelectric power.

The chief minister promised to ensure justice to the Polavaram project-affected families, asserting that this is the responsibility of the government. He said that the government had completed execution of the project up to 72 per cent by 2019 and turned critical of the YSR Congress regime for “delaying the execution of the project out of vengeance.”

He noted that despite the suggestions from the Polavaram project authority not to cancel the tenders for execution of the project, the YSRC government did so. He also blamed the previous government for its “failure” to recognise the damage caused to the diaphragm wall built at a cost of `440 crore, making the present government build it again.

Naidu said that he had reviewed the execution of the Polavaram project 136 times since 2014 and was getting funds from the central government after holding talks with them. He announced that the project was put on fast track mode and so far 89 per cent of the works were completed.

In the last two years, he said, “We had completed 15 per cent of the works by spending `7,100 crore, while the YSR Congress government completed just two per cent of the works in its five-year tenure.”

Naidu announced to start the Veligonda project’s first phase works on September 1 and vowed efforts to complete 36 irrigation projects based on priority in the next three years. He would take the Godavari water to Anakapalli through Sujala Sravanthi and to Visakkhapatnam subsequently and take up linking of the Godavari and Nagavali rivers.

The chief minisiter said that once the execution of the Polavaram project was completed, it would help store 194tmc of water and also help to use an additional 200tmc of floodwater.

Referring to the progress of works, he said that the spillway, radial gates and coffer dam works were completed while works in ECRF Gap-1 were completed by 40 per cent, and in Gap-2 by 30 per cent and in Gap-3 by 100 per cent as per the plan.

He said that 94,152 acres of land had been acquired for the project and vowed to complete the whole exercise to acquire land by October, 2026. With regard to rehabilitation, he said that so far, 17,500 families were shifted and sounded confident to shift the remaining families to the rehabilitation centres by March, 2027.

As for the money spent on the project, Naidu said that by the time the Polavaram project was declared as a national project, the state government had spent Rs 4,730 crore and for the works under phase-1, the central government had given its approval for Rs 30,436 crore.

In the last two years, the government had released Rs 8,823 crore, of which the state spent `7,100 crore. “We are yet to get Rs 3,835 crore from the Centre.”

He said that they were yet to give relief worth Rs 2,250 crore to 22,058 project-affected families.