The Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari has issued an order to release Rupees 381 crore for completion of the Polavaram Hydro Project by 2019.
Besides approving the project, the Andhra Pradesh cabinet also discussed the future course of action to be taken regarding Polavaram project.
The development came after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu spoke to Gadkari over the phone regarding the recent developments in the irrigation project.
Concerning which when the reporters asked Gadkari, he told, “The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu has been requesting that before December 2018 at least the dam should be completed. But I just assure him that by December or probably 3-4 months after that we will try to start it. It’s a very difficult and challenging task, but I will try my level best to make it fast. The CM’s target is very important.”
Gadkari assured Naidu that the Centre would extend full support to the state government for completion of the project by 2019.
Requesting the Centre to release additional funds for rehabilitation and relocation of people, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, who is currently in South Korea, informed the union minister that the state government has already spent Rupees 2,800 crore for the purpose.
In response, Mr Gadkari told Naidu that the matter would be resolved soon.
Earlier the Andhra Pradesh government who had repeatedly promised to complete the project by June 2018 and supply water through gravity.
The chief minister, however, himself reset the timeline by announcing that water from Polavaram would be supplied by gravity only by 2019.
Meanwhile, Gadkari also convened a meeting with the Andhra Pradesh’s water resources department officials on Tuesday.
The Polavaram Hydro Project is a multi-purpose irrigation project which has been accorded the status of a national project by the union government.
The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet had approved the Polavaram project in a meeting last week.
