Members of Parliament of the YSR Congress met Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi on Friday and urged him to ensure that the Centre completed the Polavaram project, bearing the entire cost. MPs Mekapati Rajmohan Reddy, V. Vijayasai Reddy, Y.V. Subba Reddy, Avinash Reddy and Varaprasad, who met the Union Minister, also raised the Dredging Corporation of India divestment with him.
The YSR Congress has been saying that the Centre should execute the project in accordance with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
Mr. Rajmohan Reddy told the media that the Union Minister was requested to ensure that the Centre completed the project in spite of the cost escalation. They also wanted the project completed in 2019, as per schedule.
Cost escalation
The MPs told the Minister that there was a lot of confusion about the increase in estimates and they had come to get some clarity on the cost escalation.
They also brought to Mr. Gadkari’s notice irregularities in the execution of the project and urged him to order an inquiry.
They asked why the responsibility of executing the project was given to the State government.
On the DCI issue, Mr. Vijayasai Reddy said Mr. Gadkari clarified that the decision to disinvest was taken by PM Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
He advised the MPs to meet the PM and Mr. Jaitley to put forward their viewpoint and convince them against the disinvestment.
The MPs told the Minister that YSRCP was totally against the disinvestment in the DCI.
While the value of DCI, which had a lot of goodwill, was put at ₹10,000 crore, why was the government trying to hand it over to private companies for mere ₹1,500 crore, the MPs asked the Minister.
