On May 21, 1981, the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, T.Anjayya laid the foundation stone and until 2004 when YS Rajasekhara Reddy did the Bhumi Puja no other government bothered about the Polavaram Project.Telugu Desam has already been in power for about sixteen and a half years.But Rajasekhara Reddy divided the work of the project into different parts and called for tenders in EPC manner and the work gained momentum.
However, the construction of such a huge project requires a variety of permits.Almost all the permits were brought during the reign of Rajasekhara Reddy.
Site clearance permits in 2005; Relocation and Rehabilitation in 2007; Rajasekhara Reddy cleared the Wildlife Sanctuary and Forest clearance in 2008 and the Technical Advisory Committee clearance in 2009.
It was against this backdrop that YS Jaganmohan Reddy came to power as Chief Minister.
He focused on the construction of Polavaram in a bid to complete the project started by his father Rajasekhar Reddy as soon as possible.He canceled the tenders called during Chandrababu’s reign and finalized the tenders through reverse tendering method.With this, about Rs.More than Rs 800 crore has been saved.However, the Chandrababu team filed cases in the courts and the project was delayed.Overcoming all these, the Jagan government has launched the project with the intention of completing the project by July 2022 and irrigating the fields.
However, experts found that the diaphragm wall built by the Chandrababu government was damaged to a depth of about 310 feet in the river bed.Construction of the Main Dam (Gap-2) will not be allowed to proceed unless the situation is thoroughly assessed and the DDRP gives the green signal.As a result, it has become difficult for Polavaram to be completed this year, i.e.in 2022.Needless to say, Chandrababu was entirely responsible for the delay in the construction of the project!
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