The Andhra Pradesh State Legislative Assembly on the last of the maiden session passed a resolution unanimously requesting the Central Government to enact legislation on the Polavaram project replacing the ordinance including the seven mandals of Khammam district threatened by submergence.
The leader of the opposition, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy of YSR Congress Party, also supported the resolution and said that the project was necessary for development of the State.
After moving the resolution, the State Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu urged the Centre to recognise the inter-state Polavaram project as a national project and go ahead with its construction and complete it within three years.
He wanted the national status for the project is to be granted in the Budget session of Parliament so that the necessary finances would be provided by Centre and implemented in a time bound manner.
The Chief Minister said that the multi-purpose project has far-reaching implications on the development of several districts in the State and its completion was in best interest of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Referring to the submergence issue, he said 571 villages of Bhadrachalam revenue division were part of Andhra Pradesh till 1959 and were later merged with Khammam district on the grounds of administrative convenience. Ruling out any changes in the design of the project implementation, he said that the project would be taken up as per the designs approved by the Central Water Commission.
It may be recalled, The Telangana Government has passed a resolution opposing the project under the current form as it has major submergence concerns.
Reiterating that no injustice would be done to Telangana, Naidu urged the Telangana Government to reason out the project implications and not to politicise the issue. He felt that the project will benefit several districts in Seemandhra and Telangana by not just providing water from farm sector requirements but also drinking water in at least 5-6 districts.
The Assembly expressed its support to the Centre’s efforts to recover black money stashed in foreign banks.