Initiate measures on war footing to meet drinking water, irrigation needs: CM KCR directs officials

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao wants officials to swing into action and utilise all resources to avoid scarcity conditions in any part of Telangana

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday directed officials to initiate measures on a war footing to meet drinking water needs and irrigation needs by constantly monitoring the water levels in the State’s reservoirs.

He had a high level review meeting at the Secretariat on the storage levels in irrigation projects, status of drinking water supply, power demand and preparatory activity in the farm sector impacted by deficient rainfall recorded in June.

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He wanted officials to swing into action and utilise all resources to avoid scarcity conditions in any part of the State. He asked to them get ready with contingency plans to meet the situation. It is time for the officials of the Irrigation and Power departments to act in coordination, he said.

The inflows being received from Pranahita and other tributaries of the Godavari could be lifted by building up the storage levels at the Godavari basin projects to extend water supply to even the tail end ayacut of the Kaleshwaram project covering even Suryapet district, he pointed out.

Even the Sriram Sagar (SRSP) ayacut can be provided with supplies for the season making use of the water available in storage. The inflows that started from Pranahita should be lifted through Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages that are part of the multi-stage Kaleshwaram project to fill Mid Manair project. From there, half of the water should be drawn into Lower Manair Dam and remaining half to the SRSP through the flood flow channel.

Seeking daily updates on the conditions prevailing in the farm sector, the Chief Minister asked Agriculture officials to ensure adequate supply of cotton seed and other crops to farmers who had to go for the second round of sowing.

The seed sown in the first round had either failed in germination stage or withered away after sprouting due to the persisting dry spell, forcing farmers to go for second sowing.

The Chief Minister directed Irrigation officials to take steps to finalize procedures for management of pump houses of lift irrigation projects across the State by entrusting the task to Genco, a public sector company, instead of opting for private contractors.

He said as there was no possibility of getting water from Nagarjuna Sagar to Paleru Reservoir at this stage, water from Bayyannavagu should be released to Paleru to meet drinking water needs.

He also directed the Mission Bhagiratha Engineer in Chief to take stock of the water reserves in the reservoirs to meet the drinking water needs and ensure that there was no drinking water problem. He made it clear that places facing water shortage must be attended to on priority. He said water levels in Udaya Samudram and Koil Sagar reservoirs should be built up to address the water shortage in the ayacut.

Ministers T Harish Rao, Vemula Prashanth Reddy, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, G Jagadish Reddy, Koppula Eshwar and A Indrakaran Reddy, Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari, Principal Secretary Narsing Rao, Finance Special Chief Secretary Ramakrishna Rao, CMO officials Smita Sabharwal, Rajasekhar Reddy, Bhupal Reddy, HMWSSB MD Dana Kishore, Agriculture Secretary Raghunandan Rao, Trans Co and Gen Co CMD Prabhakar Rao, TSSPDCL CMD Raghuma Reddy and TS NPDCL CMD Gopal Rao were present.

Importance of KLIS will be known in difficult times: CM

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said the real importance of Kaleshwaram would be known only in difficult times. People have worked hard for the construction of the project. The officials have got the responsibility to ensure that there is no problem for the drinking water and irrigation water in the State. It is a testing time for the irrigation department too, he said, adding that however, Telangana State was not the same anymore.

“We built projects to address water related issues. Abundant water is available for drinking and irrigation needs. In times of crisis, you need to rise to the occasion and swing into action like soldiers. You need to prove yourself by taking the situation as a challenge. The present experience will be useful in the future in a big way to take on tougher challenges,” he said.