Polavaram Nadu-Needu: Workflow In YSRC Government

4 Jan, 2021 10:33 IST|Sakshi Post

Polavaram irrigation project was proposed near Ramayyapeta village in Polavaram mandal of West Godavari district.

It was proposed that the left canal of the project would provide water to about 1.62 lakh hectares of land in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts for irrigation and about 23.44 TMC of water would be given to Visakhapatnam for  drinking water purpose besides Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and other industries.

Through the right canal, it was proposed to bring 1.29 lakh hectares of land under cultivation in West Godavari and Krishna district.

About 960 MW of power would be generated through this project.

Drinking water will be provided to 28.50 lakh population in villages, and the project benefits include tourism development, aquaculture, waterways, and many more

Project permissions

Initially, permission to the project site was given by the Ministry of Environment and Forest in September 2005.

Similarly, Environmental clearance was given by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, in October 2005, followed by a Wildlife Conservation permit in Papikondalu, from Central Wildlife Sanctuary in July 2006.

An approval for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (R&R) was given by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in April 2007.

In-principle permission was granted to divert forest lands in two stages from the Ministry of Environment and Forest, once in December 2008 and the second time in July 2010.

Permission for Technical and Financial terms was issued from the Technical Advisory Committee, CWC in January 2009, while the investment permit was given by the Planning Commission in February 2009.

In fact, all the permissions required for the Polavaram project were obtained from the respective Central Institutions between 2005 to 2010.

Workflow of Polavaram in YSRC government

After the formation of the current government, all the works of the project were put on priority. Due to poor planning by the previous government, the spill channel was completely filled with water and mud during 2019 floods, which has to be removed for resuming the works.

Approximately, one TMC of water has been cleared from the spill channel from November 2019 to February 2020.

At the time when works were to begin COVID pandemic broke out and lockdown was imposed. Yet care was taken and the work went on in adherence to Covid guidelines and precautions including food and medical needs of the workers were taken care of.
During the Covid 19 lockdown, 1.41 lakh cubic meters of concrete work was done.  Immediately after the lockdown norms were relaxed, the workers returned within 15 days to work.

In the times of Covid-19, though the works on all projects were stopped, Polavaram works did not stop because of the steps taken by the government

On 18-8-2020 there was a second big flood to the Godavari, in which 22.90 cusecs of water was diverted through the spillway and spill channel.

As per the instructions of the Honourable Chief Minister during the meeting held on 27/12/2019 the work on spillway girders and deck slabs went on uninterrupted even during the 2020 floods and there was tremendous progress.

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