The Status of Polavaram, Amaravati, BJP In AP & Visakhapatnam

One must be confused about that is really happening around Andhra Pradesh. With so many announcements of developments taking place, it is hard to keep up with what’s really going on. While we would love to discuss them all with you, the key projects of Andhra Pradesh right now are the Polavaram project and Amaravati. There’s also speculation about the amicable relationship between BJP and TDP changing soon, so who knows?

The Polavaram project’s phase 1 will be completed by the end of 2018. It will provide irrigation waters to 8 Lakh acres in North Andhra, stated the Minister for Roads and Buildings Ch Ayyannu Patrudu. And this is what we might be expecting too. But the reality is poles apart. Out of 1.54 Lakh acres to be acquired from the four districts of East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam and Krishna; so far the process has been completed only for 83,435 acres. Also, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu claimed that water will be released from Polavaram project by 2018 and the prestigious project will be completed by 2019. But the land acquisition on the other hand is going on at snail’s pace. The revenue authorities have told to complete the land acquisition from 50 habitats by Aug 2018. Whereas only 7 habitations have been vacated and 43 need to be vacated within one year.

Coming to Amravati, the Government of India feels that Andhra Pradesh has gotten enough funds from the centre in the last three years. The financial aid may dribble down in the future, except for projects like Polavaram which only will get its due as promised. They also declared that no fissure is there on their part and almost all the commitments have been fulfilled by them. The only things remaining are the installments announced for various projects and the support is almost complete. The state government has been blamed for the delay in implementing the things they have committed to and the centre is not backing off with its promises. All the funds are given and the state government needs to know how to utilize them to develop the state, be it in the construction of Amravati or in the execution of Polavaram project. No one even knows if the Amravati designs are approved as of now.

It is speculated that the BJP hopes to increase its stronghold in South India and they plan to leave no stone unturned. BJP has chosen Visakhapatnam as the venue for its national executive committee meetings in July this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also plans to participate in a 23-km long road show in Visakhapatnam for the same. Meanwhile, BJP is reportedly looking to win as many Lok Sabha seats as possible in the South without depending on their allies. Whatever the case be, it will be a huge hindrance for the TDP if the BJP takes a pitch into elections on its own. It is speculated to split the pro-TDP votes while the alternative vote will go in favor of the YSRCP.