Former chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had become a curse on Andhra Pradesh, said chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Releasing a white paper on Polavaram project at Amaravati on Friday, Chandrababu Naidu said that Jagan Mohan Reddy had destroyed the Polavaram Project.
The chief minister said that the TDP government had completed 72 per cent of the project works between 2014 and 2019, while Jagan Mohan Reddy government completed just 4 per cent of the works. Similarly, the TDP government had spent Rs 11,762 crore while Jagan Mohan Reddy government spent Rs 4,167 crore between 2019 and 2024, Chandrababu Naidu said.
The diaphragm wall was damaged in the 2020 floods as the government did not complete the works on spillway and change of contractor. Jagan Mohan Reddy had changed the contractor and it took more than 10 months to resume the works. There was a gap of work with the new contractor, he said. We have told Jagan Mohan Reddy not to change the contractor as that would cause damage to the project. However, Jagan Mohan Reddy did not care and had changed the contractor, Chandrababu Naidu said.
Even the Central government had advised Jagan Mohan Reddy not to change the contractor. But Jagan Mohan Reddy went ahead with the change of the contractor causing damage to the diaphragm wall as the spillway was not completed. The upper and lower copper dams were not completed to stand by the diaphragm wall, he said.
He said that they have spent Rs 439 crore to construct the diaphragm wall in 2018. The repairs now would require Rs 447 crore, he said. If the new diaphragm wall is to be constructed, it would cost Rs 990 crore, he said.
Chandrababu Naidu also said that Jagan Mohan Reddy had diverted Rs 3,385 crore from the Polavaram project. If Jagan Mohan Reddy did not change the contractor, the project would have been completed by 2020, he said.
He had studied the project now and would soon take up the issue with the Central government. He said he had to lobby with the Central government to begin the project works.
