Agriculture Minister Kurasala Kannababu on Tuesday said that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) during its rule had accorded priority to completion of the upper and lower cofferdam works of the Polavaram irrigation project ‘for commissions’ and ignored the spillway works.
Responding to TDP leaders’ two-day visit to the project-affected areas that began on Tuesday, Mr. Kannababu said TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh should stop the ‘false campaign’ on the Resettlement and Rehabilitation exercise of the Polavaram irrigation project.
“The TDP had managed to build 3,110 houses in the R&R colonies during its five-year rule while we have built 47 R&R colonies with 16,000 houses in the past two years. The construction of over 1.02 lakh houses is in progress,” Mr. Kannababu said at a press conference here.
On the allegation of delay in meeting the deadlines of the R&R package and project status, Mr. Kannababu said, “The R&R components and the plight of the affected families have never been the priority during the TDP rule.”
“The State government has borne a financial burden of ₹550 crore towards fulfilling the promise to ensure ₹10 lakh compensation to each affected family. It includes the financial package entitled to under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013,” he said.
Mr. Kannababu said ₹3.35 lakh additional compensation was being offered by the State government to a non-tribal family and ₹3.59 lakh for a tribal family, ensuring that each family got the ₹10 lakh compensation.
The State government recently deputed a special officer to monitor the R&R components, he added.
