Chandrababu Naidu is once again turning the Polavaram Left Main Canal into a political stage. The government is projecting the flow of water towards Anakapalli as though the Polavaram reservoir itself has begun supplying water. But the basic fact is different: the water now being released into the Left Main Canal is Godavari water lifted through the Purushothapatnam pumps—not water flowing by gravity from the Polavaram reservoir.
YSRCP has no objection to water reaching Anakapalli or North Andhra. Farmers must get water. But a temporary pump-based arrangement cannot be branded as completion of Polavaram. The real Polavaram system requires the main Earth-Cum-Rock-Fill Dam to be completed, water to be impounded in the reservoir, and water to flow by gravity through the connecting structures into the Right and Left Main Canals. That stage has not yet been reached.
The Canal Was Not Built by Chandrababu
The Left Main Canal into which water is being released today is not a new canal created by the present government. The Polavaram Left Main Canal has a history going back to the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy government. YSR brought Polavaram into active execution after 2004, divided the Left Main Canal into packages and began works from 2005. The canal is 211.27 km long. By March 2023, excavation had already been completed over nearly 180 km, lining over 131.98 km, and 181 of 451 structures had been completed.
Around 65–70% of the Left Main Canal works were completed during YSR’s tenure, while nearly 90% of the Right Main Canal works were completed during YSR’s tenure and the period immediately thereafter. YSR placed Polavaram under Jalayagnam, accelerated both canals and pursued the environmental, forest, technical and financial clearances required for the project. So releasing water into this canal today and presenting it as though Chandrababu created both the canal and the water source is nothing but credit theft.
Purushothapatnam Has a History Too
The attempt to present lift irrigation near Purushothapatnam as something that began with Chandrababu is equally misleading.
During YSR’s tenure, the Thota Venkatachalam Pushkara Lift Irrigation Scheme was developed near Purushothapatnam village, and its first phase was inaugurated on 14 March 2008. Lift-irrigation infrastructure, pump houses and water-conveyance facilities had already been created in the region before the later Purushothapatnam arrangement was expanded. The later Purushothapatnam scheme was intended to lift Godavari water through pumps into the already existing Polavaram Left Main Canal and convey it towards Yeleru even before the main Polavaram Project was completed. That distinction is crucial.
Purushothapatnam water entering the Left Main Canal does not mean the Polavaram Dam is complete. It does not mean reservoir water is flowing by gravity.
If the government claims otherwise, it should answer a simple question: Is the water now reaching Anakapalli stored Polavaram reservoir water or Godavari water lifted through pumps?
YS Jagan govt’s Polavaram works cannot be erased
The political narrative also attempts to erase the critical works executed during the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
During that period, the spillway was completed, all 48 radial gates were installed, the Upper and Lower Cofferdams were taken forward, the spill channel and approach channel were substantially completed, and the Godavari flow was diverted towards the spillway. These were major engineering milestones, not cosmetic works.
YS Jagan government also had to deal with serious technical complications surrounding the damaged diaphragm-wall area and the consequences of the earlier construction sequence. Instead of acknowledging either YSR’s foundational contribution or the critical headworks advanced under Jagan, Chandrababu is now trying to place the entire project in his own political account.
45.72 Metres or 41.15 Metres?
Chandrababu must answer
The bigger question is the future of Polavaram itself. Polavaram’s full FRL is 45.72 metres—150 feet. Yet under the Union Cabinet package approved on 28 August 2024, Phase-I funding has been structured around water storage up to 41.15 metres, with a project-cost framework of Rs. 30,436.95 crore.
The difference is 4.57 metres. This is not a minor technical issue. It has implications for storage, irrigation potential and the full benefits originally envisaged from Polavaram.
If 41.15 metres is only Phase-I, Chandrababu must tell Andhra Pradesh: When will the project be taken to the full 45.72 metres? Where is the funding? What is the deadline? Instead of answering these questions, the government is celebrating pump-lifted water in the Left Canal as though full Polavaram has arrived.
From Rs. 81.63 Crore to Rs. 796.65 Crore
Then comes the most serious question surrounding the Left Main Canal works. By 2024, the balance works under Packages 5 and 5A were valued at about Rs. 81.63 crore. They were subsequently re-estimated at Rs. 352.60 crore. Tenders were called with a contract value of Rs. 293.66 crore, and the contract was awarded at 4.68% above, for Rs. 307.41 crore.
The escalation did not stop there.
The Rs. 352.60-crore estimate was later raised to Rs. 796.65 crore—an additional Rs. 444.05 crore, amounting to roughly 126% in about 20 months. Engineering experts cited in the material reportedly believe the additional works should have cost only around Rs. 100–150 crore.
Before another Jalaharathi, Chandrababu should disclose the complete work-wise breakup. What changed? Which designs changed? What new structures were added? What was the old rate and revised rate for every item? Why were works earlier given to firms linked to politically connected families and later to other favoured contractors? Who benefited from the re-estimation, re-tendering and revised rates?
Public money demands public accountability.
Chandrababu had already served nine years as Chief Minister before YSR came to power, yet Polavaram entered serious execution only after YSR took office. Even after Chandrababu returned in 2014, the main dam remained incomplete while repeated completion deadlines and “Polavaram Somavaram” publicity continued. Polavaram is not a Jalaharathi. It is not the switching-on of a pump.
Polavaram means a completed reservoir, a completed main dam, justice and rehabilitation for displaced families, and gravity flow into the canals.
Chandrababu Must Answer
- Is Anakapalli receiving Polavaram reservoir water or Purushothapatnam lift water?
- When will the ECRF Dam be completed and gravity flow begin?
- Why was the Left Canal estimate raised from Rs. 352.60 crore to Rs. 796.65 crore?
- Can the government publish the work-wise justification for the additional Rs. 444.05 crore?
- Why did the estimate rise 126% in 20 months?
- Is the present Anakapalli supply permanent? What happens if the pumps stop?
- When will full Polavaram reach 45.72 metres, and what is the funding and completion schedule?
