Polavaram Project is a multi-purpose irrigation project which has been accorded national project status by the central government. This dam across the Godavari River is under construction located in West Godavari District and East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh state and its reservoir spreads in parts of Chhattisgarh and Orissa States also.

National River-Linking Project, which works under the aegis of the Indian Ministry of Water Resources, was designed to overcome the deficit in water in the country. As a part of this plan, surplus water from the Himalayan rivers is to be transferred to the peninsular rivers of India. This exercise, with a combined network of 30 river-links and a total length of 14,900 kilometres (9,300 mi) at an estimated cost of US$120 billion (in 1999), would be the largest ever infrastructure project in the world. In this project's case, the Godavari river basin is considered as a surplus one, while the Krishna River basin is considered to be a deficit one.As of 2008, 644 tmcft of underutilised water from Godavari River flowed into the Bay of Bengal.Based on the estimated water requirements in 2025, the Study recommended that sizeable surplus water was to be transferred from the Godavari River basin to the Krishna River basin.

In July 1941, the first conceptual proposal for the project came from the erstwhile Madras Presidency. Later Diwan Bahadur L. Venkata Krishna Iyer, then chief engineer in the Presidency's irrigation department, made the first survey of the project site and made a definitive proposal for a reservoir at Polavaram. Sri Iyer not only visioned cultivation of 350,000 acres (140,000 ha) over two crop seasons through this project, but also planned for a 40 megawatt hydroelectric plant within the project. The entire project was estimated to cost about 65 million (US$1.0 million). The old final designs of Polavaram dam was planned at full reservoir level (FRL) 208 ft MSL with 836 tmcft gross storage capacity and 150 MW hydroelectric plant. By 1946–47, the estimated cost rose to 1.29 billion. It was christened as Ramapada Sagar Project since the backwaters of the reservoir would touch the Lord Rama temple at Bhadrachalam. In the old finalised project design by Dr. K.L. Rao, the right bank canal of Polavaram project was extended to south of Krishna River to serve irrigation needs in old Guntur district by envisaging aqueduct across the Krishna River.

The project presently under construction is scaled down to FRL 150 ft MSL. The project cost estimate in 2004 stood at 86.21 billion.

In 1980, then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh T. Anjaiah laid the foundation stone for the project. However the project stayed idle until 2004 when the Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy-led government came to power. In 2004, the Government of Andhra Pradesh sanctioned 13.2 billion (US$210 million) for the project. Soon after, tenders were issued for the commensurate worth of services for the right canal of the project. For the left canal, another 13.53 billion were sanctioned by the state government.

The project reservoir has live storage 75.2 tmcft and gross storage 194 tmcft thereby enabling irrigation of 23,20,000 acre (including stabilisation of existing irrigated lands) in Krishna, West Godavari, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts of Andhra Pradesh.[9][16] The silt free dead storage water of nearly 90 tmcft up to spillway crest level 24.5 m MSL, can also be used in downstream lift irrigation projects and Dowleswaram Barrage during the summer months.

The project would constitute an earth-cum-rock fill dam of 2,310 metres (7,580 ft) length, spillway of 907 metres (2,976 ft) with 44 vents to enable discharge of 3,600,000 cu ft/s (100,000 m3/s) of water. To its left, 12 water turbines, each having 80 megawatt capacity, were to be installed. The right canal connecting to Krishna River in the upstream of Prakasam Barrage (173 kilometres (107 mi) long) discharges 17,500 cu ft/s (500 m3/s) at head works and left canal (182 kilometres (113 mi) long) discharges 17,500 cu ft/s (500 m3/s) of water.

Parliament passed a bill to facilitate transfer of 205 villages spread across seven mandals in the newly formed State of Telangana to the residual state of Andhra Pradesh for the multi-purpose Polavaram irrigation project.

The bill, approved by Lok Sabha last Year, was opposed by members of the House from Telangana and the States of Odisha and Chattisgarh on the plea that it would cause unwarranted displacement of 52 thousand scheduled caste families from the three States.

Within days after taking reigns of office the Narendra Modi had recommend promulgation of an ordinance to ensure transfer of villages before the creation of the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on June 2.

The measure was necessitated as the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, as approved by Parliament during the Manmohan Singh regime, did not include the provision on transfer of the villages as consensus on the subject emerged after the bill was crafted.

Though the ordinance and the consequent bill was on the basis of a policy decision by the UPA government, in both houses of Parliament Congress members from Telangana voiced their opposition.

Revised Cost Estimate of Polavaram Project for Rs. 16010.45 crore was accepted by the Advisory Committee of MoWR in its 108th meeting held on 04.01.2011.

Central government sanctioned just 100 crores in 2015-16 Budget for Polavaram.

Going by the paltry funds allocation, it may take decades for AP to complete such ambitious project. So we Request you to consider the ground level factors and release more funds.