Naidu visits Polavaram project site; thanks PM for aid

Polavaram (AP), Sep 13 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu today spoke to Prime Minister NarendraModi over phone and thanked him for agreeing to bear 100 percent cost of the Polavaram multi-purpose project. "I called the Prime Minister on phone this morning. Heassured me that the Centre would bear 100 per cent of thePolavaram cost since it has been declared a national project.I thanked him for that," he told visiting reporters at thePolavaram project site this afternoon. The Prime Minister also assured Naidu that the Centrewould extend financial assistance to AP equivalent to thespecial category state status. The Centre had last week announced a special financialpackage for AP which included sharing 100 per cent cost ofPolavaram. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, however, hadmaintained that the Centre’s share would cover only theirrigation component and put the estimates at over Rs 16,000crore. Though Jaitley did not specify if the Centre would footthe resettlement and rehabilitation bill as well, Naidu saidit would cover the R&R component as well, amounting to anotherRs 14,000 crore. Today, Naidu inspected the ongoing works at Polavaramand said his government would make the project a reality bycompleting the first phase by 2018. "We will not let Polavaramremain a dream. We will make it a reality." While a total of 1,049 lakh cubic metres of earthworkwas supposed to be done as part of the project construction,410 lakh cubic meters has been completed so far. "We have imported high-powered machinery to carry outthe earthworks. They have already been deployed and someforeign companies have also been involved in the job," hesaid. A 5.5-km spillway and spill channel were being constructedto enable discharge of 50 lakh cusecs of water, the largest inthe world. "Godavari had seen a (flood) discharge of 36 lakh cusecsof water in a day. The highest discharge from Krishna was 11lakh cusecs. So, we have designed Polavaram for a discharge of50 lakh cusecs," he said. The Chief Minister said he would henceforth conduct avirtual inspection of the project works every Monday, usingthe cameras positioned at the site, and conduct a personalinspection every third Monday of the month to ensure theconstruction activity went on as planned. PTI DBV RSYKISJMF