Telangana Budget: 53 per cent increase in allocation for Irrigation
The State government with an aim to further increase irrigation facilities has sanctioned several new lifts namely Nallikal lift in Nagarjunasagar constituency, Pogilla, Kambalapally among others.
Hyderabad: The irrigation sector, which played a key role in the rapid development of Telangana State, has been allocated Rs 16,931 crore in the 2021-22 budget, recording an increase of 53.18 per cent over last year’s allocation of Rs.11,053.55 crore.
Presenting the State Budget 2021-22 in the State Assembly here on Thursday, Finance Minister T Harish Rao said next to air, water was the most important requisite for survival of all living beings. “Sir Arthur Cotton rightly said that revenue that comes from irrigated land is more than the revenue that come from gold mining,” he said, adding that agriculture and industries will flourish only when irrigation facilities are available abundantly.
Stating that Telangana was fully aware of the significance of water since it had enough experience of water scarcity, the Minister recalled the immense difficulties Telangana faced under united Andhra Pradesh due to lack of irrigation water. “If we write or recite those tragic stories, they may become larger than epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata,” he said, adding that wells and ponds had dried up and lack of water in borewells and shortage of ground water resources had made agriculture a nightmare before State formation.
Pointing out that farmer’s suicides were a regular phenomenon and the manner in which successive governments planned projects that led to inter-State disputes besides reducing reservoir capacities, he said it was for this reason that Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao himself took the lead to monitor the redesigning of projects.
To resolve inter-State disputes in congenial atmosphere, construction of various projects were started. Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme on Godavari River has almost been finished and Sitarama project is nearing completion, he said, adding that similarly, works of Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation project were progressing at a brisk pace.
“With the construction of Kaleshwaram project, a magnificent event unfolded before us that will remain in the annals of history,” he said. At a height of 618 feet, Godavari flowed into Kondapochamma Sagar. As informed in the previous Budget, Ranganayaka Sagar and Kondapochamma Sagar have been completed and water is being supplied to farmers this Yasangi much to the delight of farmers.
“When we visit any village, for the first time in the last 20 years, people are saying with eyes brimming that the tanks are full, canals are flowing and crops are raised,” Harish Rao said.
Dindi lift irrigation project that could provide water to the sagar left canal lands near Nalgonda district will complete soon. Sammakka Sagar (thupakulagudem) which is part of Devadula project is near completion. Construction of Sitamma Sagar (Dummugudem) which is a part of Sita Rama project will start in due course.
Construction of new lifts
The State government with an aim to further increase irrigation facilities has sanctioned several new lifts namely Nallikal lift in Nagarjunasagar constituency, Pogilla, Kambalapally, Nambapuram-Peddagattu, Peddamunigaala and Akkampalli lifts in Devarakonda constituency, Dunnapothula gandi-Balnepally, Baplathanda, Kesavapuram-Kondrapole, Bothalapalem-Vadapalli, Veerlapalem and Thopucharla lifts in Miryalaguda constituency, Muktyala branch canal and Jaanpad lifts in Huzurnagar constituency, Nagamadugu lift in Jukkal constituency, Jakora, Chandur and Fathepur-Chittapur lifts in Bansvada constituency, Mucherla and Kamtam-Chikli lifts in Armur constituency, Kodicherla lift in Balkonda constituency, Sthambampalli, Velgaturu and Dammanapeta lifts in Dharmapuri constituency, Pipri lift in Muthol constituency, Gattu lift in Gadwal constituency and Ellareddy lift in Dubbaka constituency.
Apart from this, the State government have also prepared DPRs for Gopaladinne lift in Kollapur constituency, Markandeya lift in Nagarkurnool constituency, Sangameshwara lift in Zahirabad and Sanga Reddy constituencies, Basaveswara lift in Narayanked constituency and five lifts in Asifabad of East Adilabad, Sirpur, Bellampalli, Chennur and Mancherial constituencies, Illendhu lift in Illendhu constituency and Pragadapalli lift in Bhadrachalam constituency.
Administrative sanctions will be accorded by the government in due course, he said.
Mission Kakatiya
Ponds are the sources for agriculture and also for various other vocations. The social and economic system around the pond in the United Andhra Pradesh State was shattered.
Mission Kakatiya scheme launched by Telangana government to rehabilitate the ponds achieved good results. Thousands of ponds have been restored through this scheme. Lakhs of ayacut acres are stabilized.
Due to increase in water capacity, fish culture flourished. Income of fisherman has increased and ground water levels improved across Telangana, Harish Rao said.
“There were no breaches to water tanks. Earlier, many ponds faced this problem, but this year we are able to restrict the problem all because of Mission Kakatiya’s success,” he added.
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