VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy ruled out any possibility of reducing the height of the Polavaram Dam from its approved height of 45.72 meters and claimed to release water for the cultivation of crops from the main right and left channels for the kharif season. in 2022.
In response to a discussion on the Polavaram irrigation project in the Assembly here on Wednesday, he stated that additional funds in the amount of Rs. Rs 37,883 crore, including Rs. 26,585 million rupees for the acquisition of land and for the implementation of resettlement and rehabilitation; Rs. Rs 7,174 crore for all civil works and Rs. 4,124 crore for the power project adding that if the cost of the entire project is estimated at Rs. 55,548 crore, so far Rs. Rs 17,666 crore has been spent on its implementation and it took Rs 37,885 crore to complete the entire project by the end of next year.
The Chief Minister explained in detail the cost that will be incurred for the acquisition of land and also for the implementation of R and R, saying that if the water is seized at a level of 41.15 meters by storing 120 tmc ft of water in the reservoir that has total storage capacity of 194 mtc ft, would cost Rs. 3,383 million rupees. This is the case, if the water is seized at a level of 44 meters with a storage of 158.39 mtc ft, it would cost Rs. 2,000 crore. If the water seizure were further improved to 45 meters with 180 tmc ft storage, it would cost an additional Rs. 4,500 crore and, finally, if the seizure of water were allowed at a level of 45.72 meters, it would cost 13,699 crore.
Reiterating his commitment to complete the project on schedule, he said that according to the Central Water Commission’s protocols and guidelines on safety and stability of the dam, it would be possible to store only 33% of the total storage capacity in the first year and 50% in the second. year and by the third year, the water could be filled to full storage capacity, adding that these precautionary measures were mandatory to ensure the safety of the dam to test for any leaks and warning the opposition parties not to raise a fuss if the water was not being filled to the maximum of its storage capacity and also problems in the water supply for the crop.
When all of the ruling party MLAs demanded the installation of the YS Rajashekar Reddy statue to commemorate their commitment to accelerate the implementation of the project, the Chief Minister agreed to install a 100 foot tall statue at the project site.
Previously, Treasury banks requested the installation of a 150-foot statue of YSR at the Polavaram project. They recalled that YSR completed the main canals, land acquisition and project works, paving the way for further project execution.
According to party sources, as there were 151 legislators, it would be a symbolic gesture to install a 150-foot-tall YSR statue. Interestingly, Jagan Mohan Reddy announced the installation of a 30-meter statue in Polavaram at the conclusion of the discussion on the Polavaram project.
Polavaram MLA T Balaraju recalled Rajasekhar Reddy’s efforts to initiate the Polavaram project that had been pending for decades. He said that N Chandrababu Naidu worked as Chief Minister for nine years, but never tried to build Polavaram. He regretted that Naidu, even after becoming the prime minister of AP’s residual state, did not work for the project.
He said that due to the construction of the cofferdam, about 20,000 houses were abandoned and Naidu did not pay compensation to the flooded houses while his successor had paid compensation to the flooded houses twice.
Irrigation Minister Anil Kumar Yadav, explaining Jagan Mohan Reddy’s efforts to fulfill YSR’s dream of bringing Polavaram to life, also looked for a 150-foot YSR statue.
Jagan Mohan Reddy credited Rajashekar Reddy with obtaining all the important authorizations for the execution of the project and said that before 2014, the general works of the project were 9.29% completed and in the previous TD regime they were 20 completed. %. He said that by May 2019, only 29.80% of the works were completed and he claimed to complete all remaining works as the son of YSR.
He exposed Naidu’s folly for accepting the direction of the Center to finance the project by saying that he would provide 100% of the remaining cost of the irrigation component of the project for the period beginning April 1, 2014 up to the amount of the cost of irrigation. component on that date. He said that the rates during the execution of the project could never be fixed and according to the guidelines of the National Project, the rates must be reviewed every three years to consider the payment to be made by the Center.
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