West Godavari (Andhra Pradesh): The Polavaram irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh on Monday created two Guinness world records for “pouring the highest amount of concrete" and “largest continuous concrete pour in 24 hours". The world record attempts by Navayuga Engineering Co. Ltd, which has taken up some of the project work, began on Sunday morning at 8am and ended on Monday at 8am.

The Polavaram irrigation project is located in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

Rishinath, the official adjudicator from Guinness World Records Ltd, declared that the 32,100 cubic metres of concrete poured had broken the previous record of 21,550 cubic metres that was set in Dubai in 2018.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who received the certificate, was confident that the record would not be broken in the foreseeable future.

“Generally, people think that Indians cannot perform, but nobody can say that now. This was not achieved overnight. I made sure that I visited the project site every month and we have even received an award from the Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP). This project means a lot for the nation, as 2,500 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water goes to the sea," said Naidu.

According to the chief minister stated, the Andhra Pradesh government has so far spent ₹ 15,585 crore on the Polavaram irrigation project, of which the central government has provided ₹ 6,726 crore and will reimburse another ₹ 3,724 crore.

“We are unhappy over the funding. It is a national project. The present government at the Centre said it would reimburse the entire project cost. We have furnished a total revised cost of ₹ 57,540 crore," Naidu said during an interaction with the media on Monday at the project site in West Godavari district.

He added that the project will help Anantapur district, which has seen droughts in 16 of the last 20 years. “The Polavaram project will also give 23 thousand million cubic feet of water to Srikakulam district," Naidu said.

The Polavaram project, which will also interlink several rivers in Andhra Pradesh, is estimated to irrigate 75.38 lakh acres in the state. It will also help supply 7.32 TMC of drinking water to Visakhapatnam, and another 16.12 TMC of water for industrial purposes.

Located on the Godavari river near Ramayampet village of Polavaram mandal in West Godavari district, the Polavaram irrigation project is expected to be completed by this May-June.

The project also aims to help the Rayalaseema region (comprising Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapah and Kurnool districts out of the total 13 districts) get more water. As of now, close to 60% of the Polavaram irrigation project is ready and, Naidu said, it is on track to be completed on time.

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