Ambati condemns false propaganda on Polavaram

Tadepalli: Brushing aside the false allegations on the Polavaram project, the Minister for Irrigation Ambati Rambabu said that a section of media with the support of opposition parties has been publishing baseless articles to mislead the public.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, the Minister said that a section of the media has been putting up baseless articles and trying to sling mud at the State government. He stated that the Polavaram Project was delayed due to poor planning in the TDP regime, where a major chunk of priority works have been ignored. Pointing at an article that Rs 55,000 crore was spent by the previous government, he said that all the money was spent for reaping commissions and opined that all the critical works have been left out in TDP's rule.

He said that all the critical works of Polavaram were taken up in the current government, where Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy carefully reviewed the works and promised to finish the project on time.

Despite the Covid crisis, welfare schemes have not stopped and so are the project works, he said adding that the government is completing projects on priority basis, taking forward the Jalayagnam initiative that was started by the former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

The Minister recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech, where he stated that the TDP government misused the funds and used the projects as ATMs.

He asserted that the Polavaram has been delayed only because of Chandrababu Naidu, with his poor planning. An additional amount of Rs 800 crore needs to be spent on the project because of his wrongdoings. "A section of the media never reported it."

Reiterating that the state government is committed to completing the project, the minister urged people not to believe the false propaganda.