Flooding triggers fresh political blame game

Visakhapatnam: The blame game over recent floods has led to a wordy duel among the ruling and Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh and the Telangana government clashing swords with their counterparts in AP accusing it for not restricting the height of the dam leading to havoc in Bhadrachalam area.

Polavaram is the lifeline for AP and it has remained a bone of contention for several decades over inordinate delay in taking up work. The project work gained pace only after the Centre gave it national status in 2014 post bifurcation. The project envisages full storage capacity of 194.6 tmc with availability of 175 tmc for irrigation and drinking water and 960 mw of hydel power.

Once completed, it will provide 80 tmc water to undivided Krishna and 23.44 tmc to Visakhapatnam district as per DPR. AP is at the tail-end of the Krishna river and the available source is allegedly coming down due to several projects coming up in the upper reaches of the river in Karnataka. AP has submitted several representations to the Centre to approve and release the revised cost of estimates of Rs 55,548 crore finalised as price index of 2017-18.

While the ruling YSR Congress Party claims that relief and rehabilitation (R&R) is entirely dependent on release of Rs 20,000 crore from the Centre after declaring Polavaram as the national project in 2014, the BJP denied it saying the State failed to construct rehabilitation colonies for the displaced families on time.

"As per guidelines and spending, funds are being released by the Centre. It's not proper on the part of the State to blame the Centre for no fault of it. It cannot wash off its hands like this," BJP State general secretary N Vishnu Kumar Raju said.

Telangana Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar said raising the height of Polavaram dam by three metres without proper approvals by AP triggered flooding in the Bhadrachalam area. AP Irrigation Minister Ambati Rambabu refuted the charge, saying they will take up work on completing full dam height of 45.72 metres as per approved design from 41.15 metres only after approval of structural soundness by the competent authorities.

During the visit to the flood affected areas, Leader of Opposition and TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu came down heavily on Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for giving just Rs 2,000 per head to the people affected by the floods and declaring that the R&R work will be completed only after the Centre releases Rs 20,000 crore.

On the other hand, Jagan Mohan Reddy during his visit to Alluri Sitaramaraju, Eluru and other submerged areas, said water in Polavaram Project will be stored at full reservoir level (FRL) only after paying the compensation to each and every family and completing R&R. He stated that the government is pursuing the Centre on R&R package and putting full efforts in getting funds from the Centre and stated that he has written several letters to the authorities in Delhi and discussed the issue in every meeting with them.

He said that R&R package must be provided by the Centre, as it costs over Rs.20,000 crore, which is beyond his capacity, and assured that the State Government will pay compensation to project oustees if the Central Government failed to release the amount. He stated that the Centre owes Rs.2900 crore to the State for R&R works so far. He said the water in the Polavaram will first be filled up to 41.15 meters, as the Central Water Commission won't approve filling the dam to its full capacity initially due to safety parameters.

The dam will be fully filled only after three years and by then, everyone will be paid compensation, he said and added that the water will be stored in full capacity only after completing R&R, he clarified.