‘Centre yet to release ₹3,216 crore for the project’

Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao said on Tuesday that the Polavaram project construction was progressing at such an impressive pace that a record 11,298 cubic meters of concrete work was done on a single day on Monday. On the whole, 61% of the project work was completed and the stage was set for supplying 180 tmcft of water through gravity in New Year.

Addressing the media here, Mr. Rao said the Central government was yet to release ₹3,216 crore and the technical committee was prepared to take necessary steps as and when the second (revised) detailed project report was cleared by the Centre.

The Minister said through Chintalapudi lift scheme, water would be supplied to seven lakh acres to the dry lands in Krishna and West Godavari districts and with the linking of the Godavari and the Penna rivers, the ground was prepared for impounding of the Godavari water in Nagarjuna Sagar canal by May, 2019. The first phase of linking of the Godavari and the Penna rivers would be completed by the end of May, 2019.

The Palnadu area in Guntur and Prakasam districts would get water from them, setting a milestone in the inter-linking of rivers. The linking of the Vamsadhara and the Nagavali rivers was in progress and tenders for linking the Vamsadhara with the Bahuda would be called in December. About 250 tmcft of the Godavari water was being supplied to the Krishna delta through the Pattiseema project.

Other projects

Mr. Rao further said the construction of 26 projects was going on at a brisk pace and tenders would be invited for 13 projects soon.