Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and C R Patil for approved Rs 12,157 crore to Polavaram Project, besides establishment of two industrial smart cities in the state by the Union Cabinet, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu hailed it as “A Good Day for Us… This is A Good Beginning to Andhra Pradesh”.
He expressed happiness that now the schedule was formulated to complete the project by March, 2027. He stated that the Union Cabinet given clearance of Rs.12,157 crores for the Polavaram project and the Center has agreed to give these funds in 2 yearsThese funds are being given by mentioning the construction works of Polavaram date wise.
Recalling that several efforts for Polavaram projects since a long time failed to move ahead. Foundation stone was laid by T Anjaiah, later contractors delayed the process during Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s regime and both K Rosaiah and N Kiran Kumar Reddy failed to get response from tenders.
However, Chandrababu said that things moved after bifurcation of the state as it was declared as a National Project. Realizing the problems likely to come up with seven mandals, he said soon after taking oath as Chief Minister in 2014, he was able to get those mandals merged with AP by the Central government.
Since then, Chandrababu reminded that every step regarding the Polavaram project has been taken forward as a record. He said that he went ahead with the cooperation of the then union ministers Uma Bharti and Nitin Gadkari. He said he conducted 28 field visits and 82 virtual reviews. 72 percent of works were completed by 2019.
However, he deplored that again problems rocked the project with the change of government in 2019. He lamented that on the very first day of taking charge as Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy had ordered the contractor not to be on the site thereafter. Later a monumental project was destroyed in the name of reverse tendering and even the government diverted central funds intended to the project, he added.