Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu Thursday sought the Centre’s support to complete the Polavaram project on a war footing.
The Chief Minister along with Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan met Union Minister of Jal Shakti C. R. Patil in New Delhi.
CM Naidu posted on ‘X’ that they requested reimbursement for the expenditure on constructing Polavaram Left and Right canals and all support needed to complete the project on a war footing.
“We also solicited Sri Paatil Garu’s support for the Polavaram Banakacherla Link project, which aims to transfer 200 TMC of floodwater from the Godavari river at Polavaram to Banakacherla through a link canal,” said the Chief Minister.
He wrote that Banakacherla Link Project will make the state drought-proof, providing drinking water to 80 lakh people, irrigating 3 lakh hectares of new land, supplementing 9.14 lakh hectares, and allocating 20 TMC of water to industries.
CM Naidu and Pawan Kalyan were in the national capital to attend the swearing-in of the new Chief Minister of Delhi Rekha Gupta.
CM Naidu is also likely to call Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Minister for Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The Chief Minister is expected to discuss issues relating to various projects and other matters about the state with Union Minister Shah.
He is expected to discuss the chilli farmers’ issues with Union Minister Chouhan.
CM Naidu, who has written several letters to the Centre mentioning the chilli farmers’ issues, will directly bring it to the notice of the Union Minister and request Central assistance.
Naidu, whose TDP is a key partner in the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Wednesday, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Shah for sanctioning Rs 608.08 crore for the state under disaster and flood relief.
The High-Level Committee (HLC), under the chairmanship of Home Minister Shah, approved Rs 1,554.99 crore of additional Central assistance under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to five states, affected by floods, landslides and cyclonic storms last year.
IANS
