1.8 m of Polavaram diaphragm wall damaged: Minister

Amaravati, March 10: Minister for Water Resources, P Anil Kumar Yadav clarified that the diaphragm wall of the Polavaram project was damaged due to poor planning of the previous TDP Government.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, the minister stated that the previous government had taken up the works irregularly, without proper planning, halting every work in the middle of the process. The diaphragm wall was constructed in 2018 during Chandrababu Naidu term, and now around 1.8 mts of the wall was damaged due to the flood situation. In this context, the Minister charged the vernacular media with misrepresenting facts.
He said that the previous TDP government had given contracts to their close associates and never bothered about the quality of work. He assured that the State government will complete the project on time as Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy put Polavaram on priority from day one.
On privatisation of Visakha Steel Plant, he slammed TDP Chief for the cheap politics. He said, between 1999 to 2004 as many as 54 companies like Nizam Sugars, Alwyn, cotton mills have either been privatised or shut down in the State during Chandrababu Naidu’s term. He said that neither Naidu or Lokesh had a moral right to speak in Vizag, as they opposed making it the executive capital.
Asserting that the State government would fight to protect VSP, Minister Anil said that the Chief Minister had already written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an appointment to meet and discuss the issue along with trade union leaders.