Venkaiah Naidu takes stock of Polavaram project

Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu enquired about the progress of Polavaram project at a meeting with Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari and a delegation of BJP leaders from Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) led by their State party president and Visakhapatnam MP K. Haribabu, in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Mr. Naidu reportedly asked about the steps taken to expedite the project and the causes for confusion on a host of issues thereof.

Mr. Gadkari took to the Vice-President’s notice the status of the project and the care he took to complete it as per schedule.

A.P. Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas, Visakhapatnam north MLA and BJP floor leader in the Assembly P. Vishnu Kumar Raju and Rajahmundry city MLA Akula Satyanarayana and others were present. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Haribabu said Mr. Naidu promised to do his bit for speedy execution of Polavaram project.

The A.P. BJP leaders later met Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, J.P. Nadda, Suresh Prabhu and Prakash Javadekar.

Mr. Haribabu said Mr. Jaitley assured the BJP leaders from A.P. that he would extend all cooperation in grounding the Externally-Aided Projects (EAP) and give them funding and to help A.P. Government in meeting the enhanced land acquisition cost of Polavaram.

The other Ministers promised to speed up the construction/establishment of various institutions, including the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institute of Packaging, the Central and tribal universities, and to resolve the issue faced by students of Fathima Institute of Medical Sciences.

Mr. Raju said the Central government was amply clear about its commitment to complete the project by 2019, and that an exercise on the various financial facilities available was under way to fund every rupee on it.

‘CEO being appointed’

He quoted Mr. Gadkari as telling the BJP delegation that a senior officer, whose role would be like that of a CEO, was in the process of being appointed to coordinate with the Central and the State governments for taking the project forward in an expeditious manner.

TDP MPs meet Rajnath

Meanwhile, TDP MPs led by Y.S. Chowdary called on the Home Minister Rajnath Singh and discussed the proposed reorganisation of constituencies in A.P. and assurances given to the State at the time of bifurcation.

Mr. Chowdary told media persons that the TDP leaders would meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press for sanction of projects and financial assistance to the State.

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