Pulichintala to be completed by 2013

GUNTUR: The Pulichintala project, whose foundation stone was laid seven years ago, will be completed by end of 2012, according to minister for major and minor irrigation P Sudarshan Reddy.The minister, who visited the site here on Saturday, said the project was originally scheduled to be completed by June 11 this year, but due to various reasons the deadline could not be met.After visiting the project site with irrigation and revenue officials, the minister asked the construction agencies to complete the works as per schedule. He also inquired from the revenue officials if there are enough funds for the Relief & Rehabilitation package declared for the evacuees.The project was conceived during the tenure of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy in 2004 with an aim to stabilise the ayacuts on Krishna river delta.Due to the delay in completion, the project costs escalated to `1,281 crore from `450 crore. Though the state government announced that the project would be completed on a priority basis, it did not sanction adequate funds.The project was envisaged to supply 45 TMC of water to the ayacuts on Krishna delta. A 120 MW hydro power project is also a part of the  project, but there has been no progress in the hydro power project in the last seven years.According to a brief report submitted to minister P Sudarshan Reddy, as many as 23,332 acres of land has already been acquired against the total of 24,605 acres.“We are working on a war foot basis to complete the project as per schedule,” said SK Joshi, principal secretary, irrigation department.The commissioner of the R&R package, Chirajivi Chowdary, who accompanied the minister during visit, said the government has spent `370 crore so far on the R&R package.  As many as 12 centres have been selected for the 12,990 families from 28 villages, likely to be displaced. MLCs Rayapati Srinivas, TGV Krishna Reddy, joint collector N Yuvaraj and other officials accompanied the minister.