Complete Irrigation Projects By 2017: Harish Rao

Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao today directed the concerned officials to complete all the irrigation projects, including the SRSP Flood Flow Canal works, by June 2017.

Holding a review meeting at Jalasaudha along with Telangana Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy and other officials, Rao expressed his displeasure at the "sluggish" pace of work at the SRSP. He reminded the officials of the plight of the farmers for lack of water for crops, and the trust they had placed in the new administration after the creation of Telangana, and said that it was absolutely essential that the projects got completed on time to justify the faith of the people and alleviate their suffering at the earliest.

He also said that the government was ready with its proposal to spend Rs. 56 crores on the modernization of the Musi project in phases, and directed the officials to speed up the works related to the projects on the river and call short term tenders to remove solid and liquid waste from it. He also asked them to de-silt the Musi canals to enable the irrigation of 30,000 acres of land.

The minister also urged the officials to expedite the compensation for and rehabilitation of the evacuees of the Pulichintala project (Krishna river), and the land acquisition process for the Udaya Samudram reservoir project (1,649 acres), the Nagarjuna Sagar (191 acres), the Dindi balancing reservoir (2,233 acres) and the Pendlipakala reservoir (1,911 acres).