Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Monday blamed the Centre for delaying the completion of the Polavaram project.
Stating that his government would submit the second part of the detailed estimates soon, Naidu said that the Centre had to release Rs 55,000 crore.
The Chief Minister undertook a physical tour of the project to inspect the ongoing works including the diaphragm wall and the spillway channel.
"The Centre had agreed to give Rs 22,000 crore but more is required as the Rehabilitation and Resettlement package has almost doubled in the last four years," Naidu told reporters after the inspection.
“Polavaram project is an excellent construction and in future also, we cannot see such a construction,” he added.
He also alleged that the chief opposition party, the YSRCP, led by YS Jaganmohan Reddy was trying to discredit the project. However, Naidu said that it would not work as he was confident that the project would be completed by 2019 and said that people and farmers had full faith in the TDP.
Earlier this week, Naidu instructed officials to shoot off letters to Union Minister of Water Resources Nitin Gadkari and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, requesting for faster distribution of funds for the irrigation project.
In light of the ongoing Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) projects, officials said that this amount will help in achieving the targets. Out of the 45 proposed colonies for 16,687 houses, work has started on 38 of them and is yet to begin on 7 colonies.
Officials also informed the Chief Minister that 15 colonies for Rehabilitation and Resettlement of 3,348 displaced families have been constructed in East and West Godavari districts.
The Polavaram Irrigation Project has reached an overall progress of 52.2%, officials reported to Naidu during the 57th review of the project. This includes the head works, the Right Main Canal and the Left Main Canal.