Telangana, AP meet on modernisation of Peddavagu project soon

The board sought to push forward the proposal for modernisation of the project and accordingly called for a meeting of the irrigation officials of the two States with a request to act on it with a sense of urgency.

Hyderabad: The fate of the Peddavagu project has finally caught the attention of the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB). A major breach that developed on the project resulted in extensive loss last week. The entire project was drained overnight and lands in the vicinity of the project were left sandcast. This is one of the medium irrigation projects jointly owned by Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, but badly in need of total rehabilitation.

The board sought to push forward the proposal for modernisation of the project and accordingly called for a meeting of the irrigation officials of the two States with a request to act on it with a sense of urgency. The meeting was scheduled for July 26, but officials of the two States made a request for postponing the meeting by two weeks in view of the ongoing session of their respective assemblies.The meeting will be rescheduled in the first week of August, according to officials. Both the States had reportedly endorsed the modernisation proposals, but when it comes to its implementation and sharing of the expenditure, they failed to arrive at a consensus. The project has been catering to the irrigation needs of nearly 16000 acres of which an ayacut of over 13,500 acres was falling in Andhra Pradesh.

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The 40-year-old project had a major part of its catchment in Telangana. The modernisation of Peddavagu was proposed way back in 2017. As per the revised estimates, it is likely to cost over Rs 120 crore. The breach on the project owed mainly to lack of regular maintenance. Telangana had taken up maintenance works on the project on its own last year, but the works could not be completed in a full-fledged manner.