Devadula, a priority project of Telangana, to miss December 2025 deadline

The Devadula Lift Irrigation Scheme, a flagship project intended to irrigate up to 6 lakh acres in drought-prone regions of Telangana, will miss its December 2025 deadline and is now expected to be fully operational by mid-2027. Former Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah criticized the current government for underutilizing Godavari water and failing to activate key pumping units.

Hyderabad: The full operationalisation of the Devadula Lift Irrigation Scheme, one of Telangana’s 15 priority irrigation projects, will miss its December 2025 deadline. It is now projected for completion by mid-2027.

This flagship irrigation project, aimed at transforming agriculture in drought-prone regions, continues to face delays despite being designated a top priority by the State government. The completion of various project components has been repeatedly delayed, with insufficient funding being a key bottleneck.

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“Devadula has ceased to enjoy priority in five critical aspects: funding, management, and mobilisation of machinery, materials and manpower,” A senior official from the Irrigation Department stated.

Land acquisition and unresolved canal system issues remain major challenges. The Devadula project is designed to irrigate 5.57 to 6 lakh acres across the erstwhile Warangal, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Medak districts.

Despite over 91% of the work being completed as of 2025, progress on the remaining 9% has been sluggish for the past 20 months. The canal system, vital for distributing water to 36 irrigation tanks and reservoirs, faces operational challenges. Land acquisition continues to be a major hurdle, with 2,000 acres still pending out of the 33,224 acres required for the project.

While over Rs 100 crore is still due for land acquisition and pending bills, the project’s cost has escalated from Rs 6,016 crore to a revised estimate of Rs 18,500 crore in 2025. Over Rs 14,168 crore has already been spent. The 2025–26 budget has allocated Rs 11,800 crore for all ongoing irrigation projects in Telangana, but Devadula is yet to receive its due share, raising concerns about funding gaps that could further delay completion.

Former Irrigation Minister (erstwhile AP) Ponnala Lakshmaiah criticised the Congress government for its “lack of understanding and expertise” in utilising the Godavari’s abundant water resources. He noted that the project had utilised only a fraction of its potential. Lakshmaiah pointed out that while the majority of reservoir works integrated with the project have been completed, the government’s failure to operationalise all pumping units across the three phases has left farmers in the lurch.

“There is no serious approach to the project and its benefits,” he remarked, emphasising that the idle state of the Sammakka Sagar Barrage at Thupakulagudem and underutilised reservoirs reflect missed opportunities to fill tanks and stabilise irrigation.