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Hyderabad : Congress President Sonia Gandhi has assured Andhra Pradesh government that the multi-purpose Polavaram irrigation project in the state would soon be conferred national status.
In reply to a letter written by Chief Minister K Rosaiah, Sonia Gandhi said that she has asked her office to follow up the matter, an official release here said today. The national status to the project would mean that bulk of the cost of the project would be borne by the Centre.
"...You have requested that the declaration of Polavaram as a national project be expedited. I have asked my office to follow up on the matter," the CMO release said quoting Sonia Gandhi's letter.
Sonia's letter assumes importance as it has come in the wake of objections raised by Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik against conferring national status to Polavaram.
Patnaik met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi two days ago and requested him not to concede Andhra Pradesh's demand for national status to Polavaram.
Inordinate delay in execution of Polavaram Project has led to steep escalation of project cost from about Rs 12,000 crore to over Rs 17,600 crore now.
Though the State Government has already spent Rs 3,000 crore on the project, it is unable to go ahead due to severe financial crunch. It has been desperately seeking national status for the project so that 90 per cent of the total cost would be borne by the Centre.
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