CM Jagan Mohan Reddy in Delhi for Polavaram funding

New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's much-talked visit to New Delhi began on a hectic note on Thursday with the CM meeting the Union Ministers as soon as he landed.

Apart from administrative matters concerning funding of the Polavaram project, "certain legal issues" that fall under the political domain too are on the business agenda of the Chief Minister as usual, it is said.

Armed with a long list of demands that preceded with Polavaram concerns, Jagan Reddy met Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Shekhawat first and had a detailed discussion with him over the fund crunch and the delays hampering the project. The project expenditure has become a bone of contention between the Centre and the State with the project cost shooting up due to changes made to the Relief and Rehabilitation compensation in2013 itself.

The Chief Minister sought approval to investment clearance for the Polavaram project as recommended by PPA & Central Water Commission and accepted by Technical Advisory Committee of the Ministry for Rs 55,656.87 crore at 2017-18 price list at the earliest so that project works, including land acquisition and R&R could be completed as per schedule.

He requested the Minister to consider water supply component as an integral part of Irrigation component and this would be in consonance with the guidelines followed by Ministry of Jal Shakti towards national projects and asked to reimburse the expenditure without restricting to component wise eligibility. He asked the Minister to reimburse the amount regarding the land acquisition and R&R compensation for project affected families of the project as per the Right to Fair Compensation & Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act, 2013.

The issue of shifting the headquarters of PPA from Hyderabad to Rajamahendravaram also figured during the discussion. Jagan pointed that it is difficult to supervise and monitor the works from Hyderabad. Earlier the Chief Minister had requested Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar to resolve pending issues regarding environmental clearances related to the stocking works of Polavaram project. He later met NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajeev Kumar and explained to him the financial situation in the State in view of the impact of Covid-19.

He also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah late in the evening and discussed various issues, including supply of vaccine to the State. On Friday, the Chief Minister will meet the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He will explain to him the negative impact of privatisation of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant among other issues. He is also likely to meet Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman before returning to Amaravati.