ACB Finds Discrepancies by Revenue Officials in Polavaram Project

It is reported that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials found misappropriations in the amount spent on evacuating Polavaram Project affected families. In a raid on Polavaram Revenue office, the ACB officials have seized a number of records and suspected that bills of Rs. 80 lakh might have been misappropriated.

ACB DSP V. Gopalakrishna in a press meet on Thursday said due to Dasara holidays it was not possible to verify the records seized, and that they might make arrests after October 15 should anyone be found guilty. The ACB officials will be probing the role of revenue officials in dealing with the personnel of Transstroy, the main contractor of the irrigation project.

Recently, the Andhra Pradesh state government had submitted the revised cost estimate of Rs 54,119 crore for the Polavaram project to the Centre. Earlier this month, chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said that so far, Rs13,000 crore has been spent on the project, including on land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement and an amount ofRs39,000 crore more is required to complete the project by 2019.Multi-purpose irrigation project, Polavaram is considered to be the second biggest irrigation project after the SardarSarovar Project in the country.

Corruption allegations

Earlier in a press meet, 20 September, YSR Congress party leaders have demanded the central government to institute a CBI probe on the funding, spending and the progress of work on Polavaram project.

Reportedly the rehabilitation and resettlement package, as mandated by the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013,is being given to a syndicate of politicians and brokers – most of them non-tribals – with the support of the officials. The syndicate have been allegedly tampering with the land records and have got their names written against the survey number in the records entries.

Demanding a just rehabilitation process, People about to be displaced by the project have formed an organization, “Polavaram Nirvasitula Sangham” and are collectively leading their struggles against the hurdles they are encountering in the rehabilitation process. They are demanding proper implementation of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013. It is estimated that by the time of completion of this project, about three lakh people including 1.5 lakh tribals, 50,000 Dalits will be displaced from 10,000 acres of forest land and 1,21,975 acres of non-forest land.