BJP’s National Mahila Morcha incharge D. Purandeswari on Tuesday said the revised project cost of the Polavaram project had not reached the Centre through due process and wanted the State government to send them to ensure release of funds for the timely completion of the project.
At a joint press conference with BJP leader Kanna Lakshminarayana here, Ms. Purandeswari said after apprising Union Minister Nitin Gadkari of the challenges in the implementation of the project, she had also met Special Secretary for Polavaram Amarjit Singh in Delhi.
“He has said of the 1,60,000 acres required for the project, if the cost of 58,000 acres has escalated on account of the Land Acquisition Bill 2013, it should be brought to their notice in an appropriate manner. A fair outlining of the reasons for the escalation should be defined transparently,” she said, adding that media reports suggesting that the revised costs had been presented to the Central government were leading to confusion.
She said to solve the problem of repeated stalling of work due to non-payment of bills by Transstroy to the sub-contractors, the State was expected to open escrow accounts to facilitate smooth transfer of money into the accounts of Transtroy and the sub-contractors.
She said the Centre had advised constitution of a three-member committee headed by a retired judge, to address the lack of adjudicatory clause in the MoU between the company and the State government which had not been done.
She sought to clarify that the Centre was not opposed to change of the contractor but was against removal of viable portions of the construction from Transstroy, to be awarded to somebody else. “Transstroy has bagged the tender for 14% less and such a move could lead to delay and even result in the firm abandoning the project,” she said.
Reiterating that the Centre was committed to shoulder the responsibility of the construction cost, she said it wanted to see the project completed by 2019.