CM KCR reviews status of irrigation projects

Chief Minister directs officials to ensure there is no drinking water shortage

Hyderabad: The Irrigation Department has been advised to coordinate with the authorities of Mission Bhagiratha to maintain Minimum Drawdown Level (MDDL) in all the projects, to ensure that there is no shortage of drinking water.

At a review meeting here on Tuesday, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said that through the revival of the Sri Ram Sagar Project, the water problem has been ended permanently even for the last ayacut areas of Suryapet and Thungathurthy. The Mallanna Sagar will be a boon for Husnabad, erstwhile Medak district, Alair, Bhongir and Jangaon district, he said.

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He added that upon completion, the Sitarama project in Khammam district and the Devadula project in Warangal district will cater exclusively to the local requirements. Similarly, the officials were asked to finalise the water management plans for irrigation projects in the Krishna and Godavari basins in other districts.

The State government has already allocated Rs 700 crore to take up various canal repair works, while the funds required for taking up operation and maintenance works will be made available with the Principal Secretary of Irrigation Department shortly. “Once water is released from the Kaleshwaram project, the flow should not stop until it reaches the last acre,” he said. He also directed the officials to cancel the old tenders invited for the Nellikal Lift Irrigation Scheme and invite fresh tenders within next one week, to irrigate around 24,000 acres in Nagarjuna Sagar constituency.

As there is an increased work for the Irrigation Department, the Chief Minister insisted that the promotions should be given to all eligible candidates and the vacant posts should be filled immediately. A separate board will be established for taking up the recruitments exclusively for the Irrigation Department soon. Engineer-in-Chief Muralidhar Rao was instructed to submit the vacancy position of all posts within the Department immediately and it was suggested to fill the posts of junior engineers and Lashkars at the earliest.

Chandrashekhar Rao asked the officials about the progress of medium irrigation projects in Adilabad district and directed them to submit a status report. Soon after the construction of the Sammakka Sarakka barrage is completed, he wanted them to deploy a technical team to train the engineers in the barrage management. He asked them to stop land acquisition for the contractors’ camps and complete construction of staff quarters near all the major lift irrigation schemes and pump houses on a priority basis. He also insisted that the third phase of SRSP should be completed at the earliest.

Besides taking up DBM-71 canal lining works for diverting the Kaleswaram water from Mylaram tank to Suryapeta and Thungathurthy areas, the officials were asked to modernise the Haldi Vagu project canal to provide irrigation facility to 7,000 acres. They were instructed to consult the Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS) to conduct a survey for about two lakh acres of ayacut proposed to be cultivated under various lift irrigation schemes under Mancherial, Kagaznagar and Bellampally constituencies.

The Chief Minister inquired about the progress of Sangameshwara and Basaveshwara lift irrigation scheme works in Sangareddy district. The officials were asked to prepare and submit the detailed project reports (DPRs) immediately. As works of the Sitamma Sagar project began, he sought to know the progress of the Paleru link works.

The Sitamma Sagar project is expected to be completed by June next year. He wanted the Irrigation officials to bring any issues to the attention of CMO Secretary Smita Sabharwal and OSD Sridhar Deshpande regularly. He also wanted them to complete the Mallanna Sagar project within a fixed timeframe. He enquired about the progress of Armoor and Balkonda Lift Irrigation Schemes, as well as Bunadigani Canal, Dharma Reddy Canal and Pilaipelli canal in Nalgonda district.

Chandrashekhar Rao reiterated the importance of completing the irrigation projects in the State. “We fought for Telangana State with the major objective of achieving our share in irrigation water supplies. We have succeeded in fulfilling our dream of one crore acres. We will overcome the hurdles created due to the Covid-19 pandemic and complete all the pending projects,” he added. He advised the officials to change their working style as per the changing needs of Irrigation and Agriculture sectors in the State. He wanted them to conduct a workshop for engineers on operation and maintenance of projects in first week of June.

Ministers G Jagadish Reddy, Vemula Prashanth Reddy, S Niranjan Reddy, MLCs Seri Subhash Reddy, M Sreenivas Reddy, MLAs M Yadagiri Reddy, Hanmanth Shinde, S Saidireddy, Principal Secretary for Irrigation Rajat Kumar, CM Secretary Smita Sabharwal, OSD Sridhar Deshpande, Advisor Pentareddy, E-in-Cs Muralidhar Rao, Hariram, and Venkateswarlu, along with the Chief Engineers of Kaleswaram and other projects, attended the meeting.

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