VISAKHAPATNAM: Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao said that the waters would be released from Purushottampatnam lift irrigation scheme to Polavaram left canal in nine months. The government is giving top priority to supply the Godavari waters to Visakhapatnam at the earliest.
The minister visited various water projects and held review meetings here on Tuesday. On the occasion, he said that the government was seriously considering utilising the services of the engineering college students in various engineering works. The medical college students were visiting rural areas and rendering their services, similarly, services of the engineering students would be utilised in various engineering projects, the minister added. The engineering students do not have knowledge on the irrigation projects and water supply. The government has decided to rope them in. The engineering students would be invited to the two-day Neeru-Chettu programme to be held on January 27 and 28.
During the Congress regime from 2004 to 2014, the north Andhra region was grossly neglected and the TDP government had been giving priority to completion of all the projects in a record time.
He directed the officials and contractors to complete all the pending projects as per the given schedule time. Till Itchapuram, the last point of the state, water should be supplied to each acre, he added.
When some of the contractors failed to provide information on the project works, the minister was miffed and said that the companies would blacklisted.