Minister refutes reports, says Polavaram dam height won’t be reduced

VIJAYAWADA: Rubbishing the claims that the height of Polavaram project’s dam would be reduced, Water Resources Minister P Anil Kumar clarified that the project would be constructed as designed. He slammed TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and his party men for “misleading” people by making baseless allegations, and dared the Opposition party to talk about the 2017 Union Cabinet resolution, which capped the project cost at 2013-14 price level, that it accepted when in power.

Addressing a press conference at the YSRC office in Nellore on Sunday, the minister came down heavily on TDP leaders for “planting stories” and propagating false news through their “affiliated” media. “Not an inch of the height of Polavaram project dam would be reduced. It will be ready as per the actual design by December 2021. We will invite you (Naidu) as well. You can come with a measuring tape and measure the dam height,” he maintained. The minister further said that the TDP had no moral right to talk about the project as it neglected the rehabilitation and resettlement (R and R) of the project. 

“You couldn’t give one house to the project displaced families. All you and your government was interested was in kickbacks. We, on the other hand, are going to complete 20,000 houses by March, 2021, as a part of the first phase (for +41.15 metres full reservoir level of the dam). Houses for the next level of +45.72 metres will be taken up later,” Anil Kumar explained.

The minister challenged Opposition Leader Chandrababu Naidu to reveal the March, 2017 Union Cabinet note, through which the previous government “deceived” the people by accepting to cap the project cost (for 2010-11 work quantities) at 2013-14 price level . 

“For the first three years of your term, you (Chandrababu Naidu) did not care about the project. Later, all you were interested in was the contract. If you have courage, I dare you to read out the synopsis of the Union Cabinet note, which your government and your leaders in the Union Cabinet accepted, and tell people how you cheated the State,” the minister challenged. 

It was former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy who started the Polavaram irrigation project, he said and added that YSR’s son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy would be the one to complete it.