Government to call for new Polavaram tenders

HYDERABAD:  With an intention to begin project works in April, the Kiran Kumar Reddy government is of the view to cancel the present tenders and call for fresh tenders for Polavaram multi-purpose irrigation project. In this regard, an official statement is expected in the next three to four days.It may be recalled that the government had finalised the tenders for Rs 4,717 crore for Polavaram in October last. CL Rajam, owner of a vernacular daily and close associate of TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao, bagged  the tender for his Southern Engineering Works (SEW) Patel company.Another bidder Soma company had challenged the government's decision in the High Court and the latter had directed the high-power committee concerned to take into consideration all the aspects, including technical capabilities and capacities of the company, and objections raised by the petitioner before finalising the tenders.Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday called for a high-level meeting at the Secretariat to review the on-going irrigation project works took up under Jalayagnam programme. Minister for medium and major irrigation P Sudershan Reddy, principal secretaries and secretaries to irrigation, engineers-in-chief and other senior officials concerned were present.It is learnt that the government has decided to cancel the present tenders keeping in view the technical incapacity of SEW. The chief minister has reportedly directed the senior officials to call for fresh tenders and complete the process at the earliest in order to begin works by April.The state government has also directed the irrigation officials to speed up the works and complete 30 priority projects by July.With regard to the ultimatum given by irrigation contractors that they would stop works from February 1 onwards if the government fails to resolve their demands which include labour and sand rates, insurance etc., the chief minister has directed the irrigation secretaries and engineers-in-chief to talk to the contractors over the next two to three days.It is further learnt that the chief minister would visit Mumbai in the first week of February to sign an MoU with the Maharashtra government on construction of Pranahita-Chevella project.