Action plans along with the time lines for the completion of ongoing projects in the Godavari and Krishna basins would be finalised soon so as to complete as much work as possible before the commencement of the next monsoon season.
The action plan for Godavari Basin projects should be in place by the month-end and that of the Krishna Basin projects should be ready in February, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said at a review meeting held here on Friday. He stated that he and teams of officials and retired engineers visited the ongoing works of Kaleshwaram, Palamuru-Rangareddy and other projects, separately.
Stating that he would visit the works on Palamuru-Rangareddy and Dindi projects personally in February, the Chief Minister said a total of ₹99,643 crore had been spent on the ongoing projects taken up with an estimated cost of ₹2.25 lakh crore to bring 1.25 lakh acres land under irrigation.
He explained that of the total expenditure on the ongoing irrigation projects so far, ₹77,777 crore was spent on the construction works and another ₹22,000 crore on land acquisition, compensatory afforestation and rehabilitation and resettlement packages.
Another ₹7,000 crore was expected to be spent on the construction works by the closure of the current financial year, taking the total expenditure till March-end to ₹1.07 lakh crore.
Completion of both the ongoing projects and Mission Kakatiya works would require another ₹1.17 lakh crore over the next five years and the government was committed to spend the amount and provide irrigation facility to a total of 1.25 crore acres land, the Chief Minister noted. Towards that end, officers, engineers and work agencies should work work in tandem as completion of projects was the top priority for the government, he said.
In addition to constructing a barrage at Tummidi Hatti for irrigating 2 lakh acres land in combined Adilabad district, focus should also be on optimum utilisation of water from Peddavagu, completion of Chankha-Korata barrage, Kupti projects to benefit the farmers of Adilabad, he told the engineers. Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi, Advisor Rajeev Sharma, Engineer-in-Chief C. Muralidhar, OSD to Chief Minister Sridhar Rao Deshpande and several other senior engineers attended the meeting.
He told the engineers to bring Kaleshwaram project water to Mid Manair and Sriramsagar projects during the next flood season and fill connected tanks with the available water, even if it required excavating new feeder channels.