Vijayawada: The Polavaram issue has widened the gap between the state government and TD MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, who owns Transstroy, the contractor of the irrigation project. As Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has insisted that Transstroy should be allowed to continue as the contractor for Polavaram, the TD headquarters is suspecting the role of Guntur MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao behind the screen.
The state government has reportedly wanted to engage another infra company for Polavaram works. However, the Union minister’s fresh direction has come as a shocker to the government. Union minister for water resources Nitin Gadkari reviewed the progress of the Polavaram works with CM N. Chandrababu Naidu and other officials, after his visit to the project site on Oct. 3.
Later, a 10-member expert committee, headed by Masood Hussain, inspected the project site. The committee gathered information about the project from the engineering officials and representatives of the contract company at the site. The committee had a detailed interaction with the secretary (Water Resources) Sasibhushan Kumar and engineer-In-chief M. Venkateswra Rao, before leaving for New Delhi.
The committee has presented its report to the the Union minister on Wednesday and in a subsequent meeting with the AP officials, the Union minister lambasted the state government officials over several issues, including retaining Transstroy as the contract company for executing the works. The Union minister reportedly rejected the AP government’s proposal to hike the rates of project works.
In a meeting convened in New Delhi on Wednesday, Mr. Gadkari has put down the proposal of handing over Polavaram project works to other companies. He has categorically stated that the government should continue with the present contractor and directed the state government to extend cooperation to the present contractor. Mr. Gadkari suggested that the govenrment should not club the expenditure relating to land acquisition and rehabilitation with the expenditure related to the project construction.
The minister also stated that the details of both the expenditure should be discussed again. All these developments are an indication of the widening gap between the TD MP with the party high command, said a minister from coastal districts.
