The Union Environment Ministry extended the construction period for the Polavaram Multipurpose Project in Andhra Pradesh by two years. In 2011, the then Union government had asked the Andhra Pradesh government to stop Polavaram construction. In 2014, the NDA government declared Polavaram a national project and the ministry kept the ‘stop work order’ in abeyance to allow construction work. According to sources, the project is important for Andhra Pradesh, as it will irrigate nearly 3 lakh hectare of land, generate hydro power with installed capacity of 960 MW and provide drinking water to 540 villages covering a population of 25 lakh in Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and West Godavari and Krishna districts. The Polavaram project aims to build an earth-cum-rock filled dam across river Godavari. The maximum height of the dam is 48 m. The project’s main dam was expected to be completed by December 2018. Before this year’s elections, former AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had claimed parts of the project ayacut would get water using gravity method soon and the project would be completed to a large extent by June 2019. However later on, he revised the project deadline to June 2020.