Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday shot off a letter to Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari, demanding early reimbursement of ₹3,722 crore for the ongoing Polavaram project on Godavari river.
The state is making available funds for the project from its “meager resources” to ensure the ongoing work does not stop, but this is affecting other flagship state programmes severely, he said in a letter to Union Minister.
Naidu added, So far, about ₹15,380.97 crore has been spent on the project. After the Polavaram irrigation project was declared as a national project, the central government reimbursed ₹6,727.26 crore and is yet to release the balance ₹3,722 crore to the state.
“I demand that immediate action may be taken to expedite approval of Revised Cost Estimate&arrange immediate release of funds for reimbursement of balance expenditure of ₹3,722.04 crores” as quoted by ANI.
Andhra Pradesh CM in letter to Union Min Nitin Gadkari over Polavaram Irrigation Project: I demand that immediate action may be taken to expedite approval of Revised Cost Estimate&arrange immediate release of funds for reimbursement of balance expenditure of Rs. 3,722.04 crores. pic.twitter.com/2W33TtcLx9
— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2019
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief demanded that the centre should take immediate action to release the reimbursement of ₹3,722 crore and also approve the revised cost estimate of the project submitted to the Centre Water Commission (CWC) in August 2017.
He also said that the state government has bagged the Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP) award for speedy execution of the Polavaram project, which is a lifeline of Andhra Pradesh.
Over 64 per cent of the overall project has been completed so far. The state government has been making timely payment for the project “severely restraining” its capacity to fund other development and welfare programmes with its limited revenues and resources, he said.
He further added that “The last reimbursement received from the Government of India was on June 11, 2018. Since then, there is no reimbursement of expenditure already incurred by the state government so far”.
Chandrababu Naidu broke away from the NDA early 2018. He is now spearheading efforts to bring anti-BJP parties together to form a third front ahead of the general elections.
READ: Chandrababu Naidu unveils the first gate of Polavaram Project