The well-conceived Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project will be executed in mission mode to optimise irrigation facilities and stabilise the ayacut in Khammam and Bhadradri-Kothagudem districts, by harnessing surplus Godavari water, said Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao.
Having completed several lift irrigation projects across the State, including Bhakta Ramadasu Lift Irrigation Scheme (BRDLIS) in Khammam district within the shortest span, the Irrigation department would strive with renewed zeal to execute the Sitarama project expeditiously, he said.
Mr Harish was speaking at a public meeting at Kusumanchi after formally releasing water from the modernised Palair old canal on Monday.
He alleged that successive governments had grossly neglected the Palair old canal of Nizam’s era.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi government ensured speedy execution of the modernisation works of the 23-km Palair old canal under the Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) left canal system at an estimated cost of ₹64.50 crore in a record time of four and a half months as against the stipulated time-frame of 18 months, he asserted.
He applauded the engineers concerned for their swift work and Minister for Roads and Buildings Tummala Nageswara Rao for effective monitoring of the works.
On the Sitarama project, he said land acquisition was delayed initially due to some issues of forest clearance. The process had now gained pace, he said, reiterating that the project held enormous potential to irrigate the entire tracts of cultivable lands in Khammam and Bhadradri-Kothagudem districts.
The project was designed to lift surplus Godavari water from the perennial source at Dummugudem. Ayacutdars of the NSP left canal stood to benefit immensely from the project as it would help overcome the recurring problem of water scarcity in Nagarjunasagar dam owing to failure of monsoon or attempts to curtail water inflows into the NSP by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Mr Harish Rao said.
He alleged that the previous Congress governments had initiated 34 irrigation projects under “Jala Yagnam” but had miserably failed to complete almost all of them, benefiting only contractors.
He said the long-pending Kinnerasani project left canal works, initiated during the previous Congress regime in 2006, had been completed expeditiously, facilitating irrigation to 10,000 acres in both Kothagudem and Pinapaka constituencies in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district.
Mr Tummala Nageswara Rao spoke.