Telangana Irrigation Hurt By Land Acquisition Delay

Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao today reprimanded the officials of his ministry and warned them of serious action for the sluggish pace of the land acquisition works for irrigation and other projects.

Rao, along with several MLAs and officials, held a review meeting today on irrigation projects at the Warangal Collector's office and expressed his displeasure at the officials for not functioning efficiently and for ignoring high-priority government orders. He ordered the concerned officials to expedite the works, and asked the MLAs to monitor them in coordination with the revenue and irrigation officials.

The minister then listed out the projects that the State government wanted them to prioritize from now on.

"The construction of the Devudula project at Tupakulagudem should be completed within two years. Start the works as soon as the intensity of the Godavari flood flow reduces. Acquire lands for the same as soon as possible. Monitor the works from the Tahasildars' offices. Suitable compensation should be given to the victims after acquisition," he said.

"The State government has earmarked 25,000 acres of lands for irrigation annually with the Centre's assistance. Also, under the SRSP flood flow canal phase 2, the government had planned to irrigate 45,000 acres in the Palakurty constituency. None of these projects has even reached the initial targets set by the government. Help the government realize its plans, because it loses hundreds of crores of rupees everytime its officials delay the works," he added.