Telangana to fill 22 reservoirs under Devadula project: Bhatti

Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka said Telangana will operate all 10 pumps under the Devadula Project to fill 22 reservoirs while keeping the Medigadda barrage gates open. The government also released Rs. 146 crore to speed up pending irrigation works.

Kothagudem: While asserting that water would not be lifted from the Medigadda barrage at present, Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka stated that the State government aims to fill 22 reservoirs under the Devadula Project.

He, along with Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, visited the J Chokka Rao Devadula Project in Mulugu district on Monday. Addressing the media, Vikramarka said the Medigadda barrage gates would remain open until the damaged pillars were fully repaired and floodwater would be allowed to pass safely.

---

However, in view of drought conditions caused by El Niño, all 10 pumps of the Devadula Project would be operated continuously to provide irrigation and drinking water to about 12 districts in the Godavari basin.

To expedite the Devadula works, Rs. 146 crore has been released. The Devadula and Seetharama projects would be completed on a war footing to supply water to the erstwhile Warangal and Khammam districts. The Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella Project would be taken up to utilise Godavari waters for Adilabad and Karimnagar districts, Vikramarka said.

Meanwhile, the Ministers cancelled their visit to the Seetharama Project in Kothagudem scheduled for the day. Speaking to the media at Manuguru, former BRS MLA Rega Kantha Rao said the Ministers cancelled their tour as they were unable to answer the questions raised by the BRS on behalf of the district’s people and the farming community.

The Congress government had filed court cases to halt the Seetharama and Sitamma Sagar projects, which former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had initiated and completed 95 per cent of the works, he alleged.

Kantha Rao, who had called on BRS cadres to come to the Seetharama Project site to submit petitions to the Ministers, was placed under house arrest along with several leaders in Manuguru, Pinapaka and other places on Monday.

In a statement, former Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar alleged that false propaganda was being spread about the Kaleshwaram project to divert public attention from the issue of submergence caused by the Polavaram project.

The government failed to take measures or even conduct a basic review to protect the Bhadrachalam region from Polavaram submergence. Nearly 184 square kilometres of area, spanning 36 villages in the vicinity of Bhadrachalam, was likely to be affected due to Polavaram backwaters.