Andhra Pradesh state government on Thursday said that the Polavaram multi-purpose project is likely to relocate over 1.88 lakh people across 222 villages and 1,730 persons have been rehabilitated already in six villages.

Uma Bharti, Water Resources and River Development Minister informed the Lok Sabha that the government is ensuring all the efforts to finish the project on time. During the Question Hour, she said that the construction of the Polavaram project has incurred an expenditure of Rs 5,575.35 crore till March 31 this year.

The Polavaram project constituted under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, has been functional since January this year, is expected to irrigate an area of 2.91 lakh hectares apart from generating 960 MW of power and 23.44 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) water would be available for domestic, industrial uses while 80 TMC of water would be diverted to the Krishna Basin.