Vice President Venkaiah Naidu suggests Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar to continue work on Polavaram Project, cites national interest

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu suggests Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar to continue work on Polavaram Project, cites national interest

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday called Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar to suggest that Javedkar allow work to proceed on Andhra Pradesh's Polavaram Multipurpose Project by keeping in abeyance the 'stop work order' on the project for another 2 years in the nation's interest.

"Vice President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha called the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, today to his Chamber in the Rajya Sabha and suggested to him that the Ministry of Environment should consider keeping in abeyance the 'stop work order' on Polavaram Multipurpose Project by another two years in the interest of the nation in general and Andhra Pradesh as Polavaram Project is declared as a National Project and also is the lifeline of Andhra Pradesh," an official statement said.

The last 'stop work order' has been kept in abeyance for one year from July 3, 2018, to July 2, 2019. Prior to that,  a 'stop work order' had been kept in abeyance thrice in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.

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The Vice President emphasized the need to allow the work to be continued on the project without any hindrance. Javadekar has positively responded and assured that the matter would be given due consideration. 

Polavaram Project is an under-construction multi-purpose National project on the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh. It is designed to overcome the deficit of water in the country. The project is entirely funded by the Centre and is also known as National River-Linking Project.

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Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed officials to give top priority to the completion of the Polavaram project. Similarly, on the same river, the Kaleswaram project has been recently inaugurated which is expected to supply water to 70 percent of districts in Telangana for agriculture, drinking water and industrial purposes.