Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu inspecting the works at the Polavaram project site on Monday.
| Photo Credit: G.N. RAO
Describing Polavaram and the capital city of Amaravati as two eyes of Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on December 16, Monday, took a broadside against the YSRCP, saying that the previous government deliberately delayed these projects, ‘plunging the State into darkness’.
“The YSRCP government blinded both these eyes of Andhra Pradesh,” the Chief Minister said after inspecting the diaphragm wall, gap 1 and 2 vibro compaction works at the Polavaram project site on Monday.
Addressing the media, the Chief Minister said that had his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) continued in power after the 2019 elections, the Polavram project would have been completed by now.
Dig at Jagan
Referring to YSRCP president and former Chief Miniter Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Mr. Naidu said, “Lack of understanding and corruption by one person had derailed both Polavaram and Amaravati projects. The measurable loss due to delay in the construction of Polavaram project would be somewhere between ₹10,000 crore and ₹15,000 crore. The losses would be much more if the benefits of the creation of a new ayacut of 7.27 lakh acres, stabilisation of 23 lakh acres, drinking water to 28 lakh people, agricultural output and GST are considered.”
Besides this, the Chief Minister said, the government has to spend ₹2,400 crore additionally on the construction of a new diaphragm wall, vibro compaction, dewatering, sand filling, etc.
“It’s nothing but squandering of taxpayers’ money by the previous YSRCP government, which stalled the works for more than 15 months on various pretexts such as the change of contractors,” he said.
The Chief Minister attributed this loss to ‘certain political leaders and their decisions’. “Those political leaders got their punishment in the 29024 elections as their (YSRCP’s) numbers reduced to just 11. This is the beauty of democracy. The blessing in disguise is that the people understood what was good and what was bad,” he said.
“I will not utter a word more in this regard. You (People) might have observed that there has been no use of abusive words (in political speeches) during the last six months. It was order of the day during the tenure of the previous government,” he added.
Asked about the change in deadlines for the Prolavaram project, Mr. Naidu said that the TDP government has always honoured the deadlines set by it. “More than 72% of the works were completed during the TDP’s tenure between 2014 and 2019. The deadlines change sometimes by the destiny or the people,” he quipped.
Published – December 16, 2024 07:51 pm IST
