Clearance on Pulichintala project likely by April 27:Minister

Hyderabad, Mar 6 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah today said the government would try to obtain clearance on some technical aspects on Pulichintala Irrigation project from the Central Water Commission (CWC) by April 27 and start work on the project.

Addressing a news conference here, after meeting Krishna District MLAs, who urged the Minister to take up the Pulichintala Irrigation Project to provide water to three lakh acres in Krishna delta area, he admitted that there was some delay in taking up the project due to technical objections raised by the contractors in the project.

He said the matter was referred to CWC after the Dispute Adjudication Board submitted its report on the technical objections.

Reiterating the government's commitment to take up the project as early as possible, he said it wanted to complete the project by 2008.

Krishna District MLAs M Budha Prasad and D Nehru, who were present, alleged that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was trying to create problems in the project by raising technical aspects.

They said they had urged the Chief Minister to take up works on the project immediately to help the farmers of the area.

Future course of action would be announced if the government failed to take up the project by April this year, they added.

However, TDP MLA D Umamaheswara Rao, who had an argument with the Minister on the subject, alleged that the government was protecting the interests of the contractor.

He said the contractor was violating the agreement by constructing 24 gates instead of 33 gates as in the original agreement.

He also objected to the sending of the project report to CWC again when it had already accorded sanction.

However, the Minister refuted TDP MLA's charges, stating that the technical objections needed to be cleared by the CWC.

UNI