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Audit Reports

Compliance
Andhra Pradesh

Report No.4 of 2023 - Compliance Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Poola Subbaiah Veligonda Project

Date on which Report Tabled:
Thu 08 Feb, 2024
Date of sending the report to Government
Thu 26 Oct, 2023
Government Type
State
Sector Environment and Sustainable Development,Agriculture and Rural Development,Social Infrastructure

Overview

This Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has been prepared for submission to the Governor of Andhra Pradesh under Article 151 of the Constitution of India for the year ended 31 March 2021.

This Report contains significant results of the Compliance Audit on ‘Poola Subbaiah Veligonda Project’ covering the period 2017-18 to 2020-21.

The uplands of Prakasam, SPSR Nellore and YSR Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh form part of a semi-arid zone in the peninsular India with scanty and erratic rainfall. These areas have been identified as drought affected and the frequency of its occurrence during the last 50 years was on the raise.

To mitigate the drought conditions, the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) conceived the ‘Poola Subbaiah Veligonda Project (PSVGP)’, to ensure drinking water and one low duty crop (Khariff crop) in the area. In the above context, GoAP ordered (February 1991) to assess the feasibility and to conduct investigation for the project. Investigations were carried out and the first Detailed Project Report (DPR) was prepared in the year 1994. The present project was taken up in 2005 based on the DPR submitted in March 2005.

The PSVGP envisages drawal of flood water of river Krishna from the foreshore (Kollam vagu) of Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy Sagar (Srisailam Reservoir) during monsoon period. The water so drawn would be conveyed through an approach channel, two tunnels, feeder canal and would be impounded in the Nallamalasagar reservoir. The irrigation of the command area and provisioning of drinking water would be covered through three canals connected to the reservoir. The water so drawn would provide irrigation facilities to about 4.38 lakh acres for Irrigating dry crops and drinking water to 15 lakh population in the three districts. The project was proposed to be completed within five years of commencement of construction. However, the project remained incomplete as of date.

In the above background, the detailed Compliance Audit of ‘PSVGP’ was conducted covering the period since inception of the project with special focus on execution of works during last four years (2017-18 to 2020-21). The audit objective was to assess whether tunnel system, head regulator including approach channel were planned and executed effectively for required water drawal capacity, planning and execution of reservoirs was done with required storage capacity and structural adequacy and canals were designed and executed with adequate structures to create required ayacut. The audit involved scrutiny of records relating to planning and execution of works at the Executive Engineer offices, Superintending Engineer (SE), Chief Engineer (CE) and Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department. The focus was on the aspects relating to planning and execution of the project and their financial impact on the overall project.

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