VIJAYAWADA: The Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Water Resources on Friday lauded the efforts of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for efficient water management and construction of irrigation projects.
During a meeting with the Chief Minister at his camp office here on Friday, the PSC members feel that the vision of Naidu in terms of conservation of water resources and efficient water management was a role model to the entire nation. As part of studying the progress of irrigation projects, the PSC came to the State for inspection of Polavaram project, Pattiseema and Purushothapatnam lift irrigation schemes and Thotapalli project.
After meeting the committee members, Naidu conducted a virtual inspection of Polavaram project and said that by making use of advanced technology, the government is continuously monitoring the groundwater level, rainfall and examining the weekly forecasts of soil moisture and rain at the project site.
Stating that groundwater level should be a priority for the nation, Naidu said that his government had taken up works of a lakh farm ponds (out of a target of 10 lakh ponds) to boost groundwater level and facilitate irrigation.
Reiterating that top priority is being accorded to the early completion of the Polavaram project, which was declared a national project by the Centre, the Chief Minister explained that every Monday, a review meeting is held to discuss the progress on Polavaram and other irrigation projects.Naidu said that they have set a target to increase cultivation of horticulture crops across 1 crore acres of land and provide micro- irrigation to one crore acres by the end of the current fiscal.
The meeting held between officials of the Water Resources, Central Water Commission and State government discussed matters regarding Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP), Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM), Command Area Development and Water Management (CAD&WM), rain water harvesting programme, packing drinking water industry and its effect in the State.
PSC chairman Hukum Singh, members Siddhant Mohapatra, Aparupa Poddar, V Sathyabama, Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu, Pradeep Tamta, Balwinder Singh Bhunder, A V Singh and Harshvardhan Singh Dungarpur attended the meeting.Minister for Water Resources Management Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, MPs Maganti Venkateswara Rao and M Murali Mohan were also present.
Interlinking rivers will end water disputes
Asserting that it is his government that initiated the process of river linking for the first time in the nation through Pattiseema Lift Irrigation project, Naidu said that water disputes between states can be prevented by linking all rivers across the nation.