Minister Anil Kumar Yadav pins blame on TDP for Polavaram woes

Nellore: Minister for water resources development P Anil Kumar Yadav made it clear that the state government will not compromise on Polavaram project and assured people that it would be completed by December 2021. He blamed TDP for neglecting the project during its tenure by making secret pacts for the sake of commissions from contractors.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, the minister said that the previous government welcomed the package announced by the Union government and brought the Polavaram project under the package without considering cost escalation involved in the project. Anil Kumar said that this situation would not have arisen but for the "greed of TDP" for commissions. Although the Centre promised to complete the project at their own expense, with the request of Chandrababu's government, it handed over the responsibility to the state, which was ruined by the previous government. He dared the opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu to reveal the Cabinet note of 2017, which was attended by former TDP ministers.

The minister slammed opposition leaders for making false allegations against the state government and making it responsible in the current predicament. The TDP leaders were stating that 70 per cent of the works were completed during their rule and they spent only Rs 17,000 crore, while the entire cost of the project is Rs 55,000 crore. The minister said that the TDP leaders had left rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) works from the project profile and asked them to explain how they completed 70 per cent work with only one fourth of the budget.

He criticised TDP leader Nara Lokesh for "shamelessly" making allegations against Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and said that Lokesh was no match to the Chief Minister and doesn't have any moral right to speak about him. He stated that the public were ready to reject TDP in the coming elections too.