VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government has proposed a separate Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) for the families living in the resettlement colonies of the Polavaram project . Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu on Monday pushed a proposal on the new and separate ITDA for the displaced families resettled in 74 colonies.The chief minister also directed the officials to ensure that the rehabilitation and resettlement is executed properly for these one lakh families. He directed the officials to collect the data on the employment opportunities for these people and their skills and capacities. He also directed the officials to focus on providing basic infrastructure in these colonies and plan to create employment opportunities for them.The chief minister later reviewed the progress of the civil and engineering works of the project. He expressed satisfaction over the progress of the works at the project site.The officials briefed the chief minister that the Central Water Commission (CWC) had cleared 14 designs out of the total 45 designs of the project. Another 9 designs are with different agencies being readied, they said.The chief minister asked the officials to speed up the work and get the CWC clearance for the designs. He wanted continued persuasion with the CWC on the project for all clearances and payments.The officials also informed the chief minister that over 50,000 people have visited the Polavaram Project site so far. The government had launched the visit of people to the project site on April 23 and had been providing special buses to the visitors from various places.Minister for water resources, Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, chief minister’s secretary A Rajamouli and others were present at the review.Meanwhile, Union minister of state for water resources, Arjun Ram Meghwal, told Rajya Sabha on Monday that the Central government would give permissions and funds only after the Central Water Commission’s scrutiny of the Polavaram Project.In reply to a question by Congress MP K V P Ramachandra Rao, the Union minister said that the project was initially estimated to cost at Rs 16,101 crore in 2010-11. However, the State government had revised the estimates increasing the project cost to Rs 58,319 crore. The revised estimates are being examined by the CWC, he said. He said that the State government would have to justify the revised estimates. “The funds or the permissions would be cleared once the CWC gets all clarifications from the State government in the revised estimates,” the Union minister said.

Stay updated with all the Latest Vijayawada headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.