The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Nod for Varikapudi project

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 26, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Nod for Varikapudi project

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, NOV. 25. The Major Irrigation Minister, P. Lakshmaiah, has announced that the Government has decided to go head with the Varikapudi project proposed on the Krishna to benefit 45,000 acres in Guntur and Prakasam districts.

The announcement was made on Thursday following discussions held by him with the elected representatives of the districts who made a strong plea for the project, which they said, was ignored by the former Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, after laying a foundation stone.

The Minister said he had asked the officials to prepare detailed project report in a month.

He said the Devadula project would be ready within 8-12 months in advance of the original schedule benefiting 1.19-lakh acres in Warangal district, to start with. A team from the State would shortly visit Japan for inspecting pipes and equipment being secured for the project by the contractors, Kirloskar.

The Minister remained non-committal on reissuing the notification for the `medium' sized packages of the irrigation projects.

TDP charge refuted

He termed the TDP criticism on tenders "a political propaganda" and joined the issue on Sriramsagar Flood Flow Canal saying that the figures given by them on this were "blatant lies".

He said the expenditure on the first 28-km stretch executed by the TDP Government was not Rs. 4.5 crores per km as stated by them but Rs. 11.1crores.

The TDP leaders had projected Rs. 120 crores as the total cost ignoring its upward revision to Rs. 177 crores and avoiding the cost of structures (Rs. 110 crores) and designs (Rs. 28.70 crores).

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