Rajamundry: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday assured to the submerged villages under Polavaram project that no family will be moved from the submergence villages without paying compensation and water in the Polavaram Irrigation Project will not be stored at the full reservoir level till each and every displaced person is paid compensation.

Jagan toured the flood affected villages in Alluri Sitarama Raju and Eluru districts for the second consecutive day and interacted with villagers. He visited Koyuguru and Chatti villages in ASR district and Kannaigutta, Thirumalapuram and Narlavaram in Eluru.

Speaking to the flood affected villagers; he said that he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon seeking release of funds for the Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) of Polavaram project oustees. YS Jagan said that we are making all-out efforts to get funds from the Centre for the R&R package.

I have written to the Centre in this regard and discussed the R&R issue in every meeting with the Central officials, stressing that the R&R package should be borne by the Centre as it costs over Rs 20K crore. He assured that the State Government will pay compensation to the project oustees if the Centre fails to release the amount. In a lighter vein, he said. I will ask the Prime Minister to transfer the R&R package through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) with the press of a button and get credit for it.

Union Government owes Rs 2,900 crore to the State for R&R works. Water in the Polavaram project will be filled up to 41.15 metres initially as the Central Water Commission will not approve filling the dam to its full capacity due to safety concerns. The dam will be fully filled only after three years of the project completion and by then every oustee will be paid compensation, Jagan explained.

YS Jagan announced that a new revenue division will be created with four Polavaram submergence mandals of Chintoor, Nellipaka, Kunavaram and VR Puram in Alluri Sitarama Raju district. When several women told YS Jagan that their houses were submerged in Godavari floods, he directed officials to start enumeration of loss and provide an increased financial aid of Rs 10K to each flood-affected family, which lost its house. He also promised to construct houses for the Polavaram displaced persons at the earliest.

YS Jagan speaking to the flood affected villagers, on relief measures; he appreciated the officials for their swift action in mitigating the suffering of people. The government will extend all support to the flood victims. Enumeration of crop loss and payment of compensation to the all affected will be done in a transparent manner, he averred. YS Jagan went round photo exhibitions on flood havoc set up at Chintoor and Thirumalapuram to ascertain the loss.