Polavaram failures result of Naidu bad planning, alleges former AP minister

Hyderabad: Former Minister Chelluboyina Venugopala Krishna is concerned over the mismanagement of the Polavaram project under the leadership of Chandrababu Naidu. He attributed the setbacks and financial losses incurred by the project to Chandrababu’s hasty and ill-conceived decisions, which have now been clearly outlined in an international expert committee’s report.

Speaking to media at in Rajamahendravaram here on Monday, Venugopala Krishna stated that Chandrababu is resorting to desperate measures, such as burning important documents, in an attempt to cover up the findings of the report and prevent the truth from reaching the public. He labelled this as a calculated move to mislead the people, ensuring that the real facts about Polavaram’s mismanagement remain hidden.

The former minister noted that Chandrababu took over the project from the Centre and misused public funds for personal gains. He said that Chandrababu started three major works—the spillway, diaphragm wall, and cofferdam—simultaneously, which caused problems and delays. This led to a loss of Rs 900 crore due to the need to rebuild the diaphragm wall because of poor planning.

The international expert committee’s report highlighted that the cofferdam and jet grouting wall were damaged during the 2018 floods due to poor planning and negligence. The committee questioned Chandrababu’s so-called visionary leadership and was surprised at the government’s failure to address these critical issues. He further noted that the committee praised the steps taken by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government to rectify the problems with Polavaram, while Chandrababu continued to mislead the public with false narratives.