Naidu's blunders delay Polavaram project: AP CM

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday claimed photographic evidence to expose lapses committed by TDP national President N Chandrababu Naidu for delay in execution of the prestigious Polavaram project.

Speaking on day three of the Assembly session, he elaborated how mindless engineering approvals were given during the TDP regime that jeopardised the lives of thousands. The Chief Minister stated that the present YSRCP government was rectifying that blunder which was causing delay in the completion of the project.

Reddy exposed how in September 2018, the then Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated the SpillWay Gallery and made a media spectacle of the same when in reality not even half of the spillway works were completed.

The Chief Minister explained how Naidu gave approval for building the spillway in June, 2019 without completing the approach channel. In fact, the approach channel was completed by the present government in August, 2022.

Giving a detailed pictorial representation of how lives were risked for petty gains, the Chief Minister explained how the Godavari river which was supposed to flow uninterrupted for a 2.1 km long stretch given its flow, was choked by faulty engineering approved by the TDP government. The river was made to pass through two narrow gaps of 380 metre and 300 metre each. The downstream cofferdam was restricted to 680 metres and 120 metres – a move that risked the lives of thousands residing on the banks of the river.

Later, the Chief Minister explained in the last two years, the YSRCP government on a priority was trying to undertake scouring works to undo the major engineering lapses sanctioned by the TDP. It was because of this reason that the project was getting delayed. The Chief Minister then gave his assurance that once rains recede by November, work on the project would be completed on a war footing.