Express News Service
HYDERABAD: In a step that will go a long way in conserving water, the Telangana government is working on a blueprint to connect all projects and canals with minor irrigation tanks in the state. In this way, rain water and river water will be stored in irrigation tanks. Chain system will be developed for this so that the excess water from one tank will be diverted to another tank. “Linking of Chain Tank System to Major/Medium Irrigation Canal System” is on the state government’s priority list now. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao held a detailed meeting with officials on this at Pragathi Bhavan on Saturday.
The advantage for Telangana in linking minor irrigation tanks is that the Bachawat Tribunal allotted 265 tmc of water for filling the minor irrigation tanks in Telangana. The Kakatiya rulers already developed chain system of tanks but over a period of time, the link system was ruined in combined Andhra Pradesh. The chief minister wants to restore the chain system.
“Identification of minor irrigation tanks is the first step in developing the chain system. The identified tank will be connected to the nearest irrigation canal. Once the tank is filled with canal water, then the water will flow from the first tank to other tanks in the vicinity. For this, the link will be identified between the tanks,” the chief minister suggested at the meeting.
In this chain system, feeder channel and crop canal will be developed to link 2-10 minor irrigation tanks in a chain. The aim was to see that not a single drop of water should go waste in the state, the CM said.
The plan for chain system of tanks will be prepared in the next two months and the all the tanks would be filled with water by the end of this year. By that time, Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) water will be flowed into majority of the districts.
