₹768 crore compensation paid to 6,206 Veligonda Project-displaced families

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State Minister for Social Welfare Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy said that of the total ₹888.55 crore compensation due to 7,318 families displaced for the Poola Subbaiah Veligonda Project, ₹768 crore has been paid to 6,206 families in three instalments over the last two months He clarified that compensation would be provided very soon to the remaining households as well.

Speaking to the media at Prakasam Bhavan in Ongole on Sunday, he announced that 10 tmcft of water would be supplied to the Veligonda Project on August 31. He assured all displaced persons that they would receive full compensation and urged them not to worry or believe false information.

The Minister recalled that Chief N. Chandrababu Naidu had laid the foundation stone for the project on March 5, 1996, while serving as Chief Minister. He noted that, exactly 30 years later, Mr. Naidu was completing the project works and releasing the water. He added that repairs had been carried out on the feeder canal lining works, which had been neglected during the previous government’s tenure.

Meanwhile, Twenty Points Programme (Viksit Bharat – Swarna Andhra Pradesh) Implementation Chairman Lanka Dinaka said, “With the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and under the leadership of Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, the double-engine government is working on a war footing to complete Veligonda Project.”

“Veligonda is not merely an irrigation project, it aims to ensure drinking water security, agricultural prosperity, industrial development, employment generation, and the restoration of hope for thousands of displaced families who have waited for justice for the past three decades. It will permanently transform the most drought-affected and fluoride-affected regions of Andhra Pradesh,” he added.

The completion of Veligonda will provide a major boost to the backward regions of Markapuram district, Maidukuru in Kadapa district, and Udayagiri and Atmakur areas of SPSR Nellore district. It will help address drinking-water requirements for nearly 25 lakh people, providing irrigation support to farmers cultivating around 4.50 lakh acres in drought-prone areas, and facilitate water availability for the industrial zones of Donakonda and Kanigiri.

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