VIJAYAWADA: The head of the Telugu Desam Party, N. Chandrababu Naidu, demanded on Wednesday that the YSR congressional government explain to the people of Andhra Pradesh if the central government has given any concrete guarantees on the release of the funds necessary for the immediate completion of the Polavaram irrigation project.
At a press conference at the party’s headquarters here after leaving the assembly on the Polavaram project, Naidu wondered on what basis the YSRC government could install a 100-foot statue of YS Rajasekhara Reddy at the project site when it was being built with 100 percent funds from the central government.
He accused Prime Minister YS Jagan Mohan of being reckless in proposing to spend more than Rs. 200 crore at the 100 foot statue of YSR. He alleged that the CM was only interested in the statue, but not in the actual project that has the potential to serve the long-term interests of the entire state.
The former prime minister asked the Jagan regime to specify when it will complete the remaining works of 30 percent of Polavaram so that the benefits of the project can be passed on to farmers and the general public in different parts of the state. He wanted the YSRC government to also clarify the scope of the land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement package that it was going to grant to evacuees from the project, including a deadline for the project.
Naidu claimed that the government itself had admitted that 69.54 percent of the dam works had been completed under the TD regime by 2019. It maintained that only the superstructure works remained.
The head of the TDP accused the Chief Minister of not pressuring the central government for funds due to the pending cases against Jagan Mohan Reddy. Naidu said the ruling YSRC leaders would go down in history as “traitors to the people of AP” if they caused any permanent damage to the state’s lifeline and the multi-purpose Polavaram project.
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