Hon’ble Chief Minister Sri K. Chandrashekar Rao said that before the construction of Barrages and Reservoirs, the canals should be completed and under Kaleshwaram project water should be supplied to the agriculture lands through tanks. He said that last year tanks were filled with water from canals under SRSP which led to crops in 9 Lakh acres and the value of the crops was Rs. 4,725 Crore. He said if we spend Rs. 10,000 Crore, hundreds of crores worth crops is reaped. With the same spirit, Kaleshwaram canals should be completed and tanks should be filled up with water supplied through the canals, the CM said. He said at the point where Pranahita meets Indravathi in the Godavari, plenty of water is available and if the state utilises water allocated to it there will not be any water scarcity in future. He suggested that the places where water cannot be supplied through the projects, smaller water resources should be developed. In the Telangana state every year Rs. 1.25 lakh Crores worth crops can be raised and this is equivalent to the Annual State Budget.
On Tuesday, the CM held a review meeting on the Irrigation projects at Pragathi Bhavan here. Irrigation Minister Sri T. Harish Rao, Special Chief Secretary Sri SK. Joshi, Addl. Principal Secretary to CM Ms. Shanti Kumari, Secretary Ms. Smita Sabharwal, MP Sri K. Prabhakar Reddy, Chief Whip Sri Koppula Eeshwar, Whip Sri Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, E-in-C Sri Muralidhar, senior official Sri Hare Ram and others participated.
The CM has examined the designs pertaining to Kondapochamma Sagar whose storing capacity is increased and accepted them. The CM has instructed that tenders to the Kondapochamma Sagar having 15 TMC capacity should be invited forthwith and complete the reservoir in 8 to 10 months. The CM has announced that the TS Transco has made arrangments to supply power to the lift irrigation projects to supply water to one crore acres in the State. The CM has reiterated that the power bills for the lift irrigation projects will be paid by the irrigation department. He said that the expenditure incurred by the government for agriculture is considered to be spending on farmers but never a burden on the ex-chequer. The Irrigation Department, which is busy constructing the irrigation projects, should revamp itself to maintain the projects later. There should be clarity on how many Engineers-in-Chief? How many CEs and where should they be deployed. The entire officials machinery should not be centred only in Hyderabad but should spread across the field areas. The CM said recalled that during the United AP rule Officials set up was organised in favour of Andhra region. Now in the Telangana state, the official administration should be in tune with the projects, which are being constructed now and the 31 districts.
– For the regular maintenance of the Lifts, there should be a proper planning
– Posts should be filled up in the Irrigation department to ensure that there are no vacancies
– Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project should be utilised for both irrigation and drinking water purposes
– In depth study should be done on how to utilise Srisailam water to the Palamuru project. Water from the Srisailam Project should be utilised for Palamuru and Rangareddy districts only
– 20 Lakh acres should be cultivated in Palamuru
– Under Mission Bhagiratha, water efficiency levels should be maintained for the benefit of people who are used to drinking water supplied under the Mission Bhagiratha. Water levels should also be maintained for the supply of water to the industries