Our Bureau

Rajahmundry , May 2

THE Pushkar lift irrigation project on the Godavari, meant to irrigate 1.86 lakh acres in East Godavari district, is in the thick of controversy as the ruling Congress Party and the main opposition party, Telugu Desam, have taken conflicting stands on how the project should be executed and how it should be synchronised with the proposed mega irrigation project on the river to be constructed at Polavaram.

(The Pushkar project is estimated to cost Rs 297.25 crore whereas the Polavaram project, intended to irrigate 8 lakh acres, is currently estimated to cost anywhere between Rs 9,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore.)

The differences between the two parties came to the fore at the public debate on the Pushkar project organised by the Irrigation Department here on Sunday afternoon. Mr P. Sitapati Rao, Irrigation Adviser to the Government, and Mr S. Maruti, MLA and the representative of the Telugu Desam, who is also a distinguished engineer, indulged in a stormy debate.

Mr Maruti voiced the main contention of the Telugu Desam that there was no need for digging separate canals for the Pushkar lift irrigation project and the Polavaram project and that the Pushkar canal could be extended and widened to serve as the main left canal of the Polavaram project.

Digging of separate canals would entail acquisition of more land from the farmers besides extra expenditure and the ruling Congress Party was doing it only to benefit some contractors, the TDP representative alleged.

Mr Maruti, who served as the Chief Engineer in the Irrigation Department in Karimnagar district, said the Telugu Desam had first proposed the Pushkar lift irrigation scheme and it was made clear at that time that the canal would be aligned with the Polavaram project later and there was no question of digging two canals.

Responding to the demand, Mr Sitapati Rao, said that "such a demand is an engineering absurdity and it will not be technically possible. No engineer worth his such salt will come up with such a proposal. The discharge variation will be too much and there is no way the Pushkar canal can be widened or extended to serve as the Polavaram main canal. Once Polavaram is commissioned, Pushkar canal can only serve as a distributory channel to the main canal."

Then, there was a prolonged debate on how the work on the main canal of the Pushkar project was awarded to a particular company, Prasad and Company, and why the claim of L&T, which was the lowest bidder at Rs 131 crore, was ignored.

Mr Maruti alleged that all norms had been violated and the technical sanction had been revised after opening the tender in order to favour Prasad & Co. "In fact, there were negotiations with Prasad and Company to reduce the amount in blatant violation of the laid-down procedures and conventions," he alleged.

In response, Mr Sitapati Rao said that technical sanction could be revised and it was by no means unprecedented. The debate was inconclusive and the moderators, unable to restrain the parties, closed it abruptly.

Mr P. Lakshmaiah, Major Irrigation Minister, who visited the Pushkar project site on Sunday, said the Government was not unduly perturbed by the allegations of the Telugu Desam.

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