The Andhra Pradesh government wants more time to finish the Polavaram mega irrigation project. They’ve asked for an extension until June 2025, but the Union government wants it done by June 2024. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan Mohan, visited the project on June 6th to check on its progress. During his visit, he saw some damage from floods in 2020 and asked officials to fix it by December. This way, they can speed up the rest of the work.
The damage from the floods added about Rs 2,000 crore in costs to the project. The ruling party and opposition have been blaming each other for the project’s delays. However, the Union government has given Andhra Pradesh Rs 12,911 crore to finish the first phase of the project, including the diaphragm wall that was damaged in 2020. Officials told the Chief Minister that almost 80% of the work was already done and they had completed land acquisition and resettlement processes for over 12,000 displaced families.
The Polavaram irrigation project aims to connect several rivers in Andhra Pradesh to irrigate land and provide drinking water for Visakhapatnam city and industry. During the meeting with officials, CM Jagan asked them to plan facilities to make Polavaram a tourist attraction.
