Date:28/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/28/stories/2008012854710600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

All hurdles on Polavaram will be overcome, says YSR

Staff Reporter

SATHUPALLI (Khammam dt.): Andhra Pradesh Chief Miinister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy said that the Government would overcome all the hurdles being faced in the implementation of the Polavaram (Indirasagar) project.

He told mediapersons, after taking stock of the progress in the works on the Indirasagar lift scheme, that the State was facing a minor problem in the implementation of only two of the major projects — Polavaram and Pulichintala — thanks to the obstacles created by some of the Opposition parties. But nothing would come in the way of the two projects taken up under the ‘Jalayagnam.’ He explained that about 95 per cent of the works on the Polavaram project were going on as scheduled without any interruption. There was some delay in respect of only five per cent of the works which involved the forest area. Works on the canal system as well as the other packages of the project were in full progress.

Three-year target

The Chief Minister said that the Indirasagar lift scheme would be completed in three years. Commending the efforts made by the project authorities to complete it ahead of the four-year construction schedule, he said that some 80,000 tonnes of steel costing Rs. 260 crore would go into the manufacture of pipes for the project which would help irrigate two lakh acres in Khammam, West Godavari and Krishna districts. Replying to a query, he said the lift scheme would be implemented as scheduled and even in case of any delay in the Indirasagar project, it would not be affected.

He said Dummugudem (Rajivsagar lift scheme) would also be completed by 2011. The work on the lift scheme was grounded three months after the Indirasagar lift scheme. He attributed the delay in the implementation of some of the projects in the State to some Opposition parties bent upon scuttling the development process. The government had embarked upon an ambitious programme for developing irrigation facilities by harnessing the available water resources immediately after coming to power in May 2004.