Jagan is a curse for Polavaram project, says Chandrababu Naidu

Amaravathi: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday dubbed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy as a curse for the Polavaram project which is the lifeline of the state.

The former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu alleged that due to the inefficiency and policies of reversal of the state government the Polavaram project has been completely destroyed.

He said that in the name of reverse tendering, Jagan has totally reversed the state and the project.

Addressing a press conference, the former chief minister announced that from the next week he will be undertaking a state-wide tour with the sole aim of bringing awareness among the public on the need for progress and development.

“I will visit all the projects and explain to the people the damage caused by Jagan and his government,” Naidu said.

On the Polavaram project, he said the diaphragm wall was washed away due to the foolish decisions of Jagan.

“The ruling dispensation should not resort to counter-attack on us on the Polavaram destruction but should explain its failures,” the former chief minister said.

He said that the TDP government had spent Rs 11,537 crore on Polavaram project while the present government has till now spent a meager Rs 4,611 crore. 

He recalled that while in opposition, Jagan had spoken highly of those displaced by the project but after coming to power he has deceived them.

“Why the project, which was supposed to be completed by 2020 itself, is getting abnormally delayed and who is responsible for the technical errors,” Chandrababu asked.

“I have taken up the Polavaram, which is the biggest project in the country, with a deep desire of interlinking the rivers in the state but these egoistic people deliberately damaged the project,” the TDP leader said.

Explaining how about 4,000 TMC feet of the Godavari water is flowing into the sea, Naidu said that if this water is properly utilised the contours of the State will change totally. Also, the hydro-power project would have resolved the power problems of the state completely, he stated.

“Polavaram is a dream of five crore people of the state. At a time when the dream was about to be realised, it became a victim in the hands of these incompetent persons,” the former chief minister said.

Recalling that the moment he became the chief minister of the state in 2014, he thought of the Polavaram project, the TDP supremo said that he personally explained in detail to the union ministers of the then National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

“I made a request to the then Central government to merge the seven mandals of Telangana which are in the flood zone with Andhra Pradesh,” he recalled.