HYDERABAD: Going by the speed at which the Irrigation department is moving ahead with the irrigation projects in the state, the agriculture sector can rest assure that the year ahead will see a good produce.
The year that has gone by was a remarkable one for Telangana as it achieved several milestones on the irrigation front. The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) is just six months away from providing water to the parched districts of Telangana.
The year also saw the department inaugurating several new irrigation projects and also stabilising new ayacut. In what could be termed as a record of sorts, the KLIS got environmental, forest and other clearances in 2017 itself. During his recent visit to the Kaleshwaram project site, Irrigation minister Harish Rao said that they had to fix 74 gates for Sundilla, 66 for Annaram and 85 for Medigadda in order to complete the Kaleshwaram project. He directed the officials to complete the works on a fast track mode. “We are using 2 lakh bags of cement per day for the KLIS. It is a record in the country in the construction of any project,” Harish Rao said.
Funds, water and employment (Nidhulu, Neellu and Niyamakalu) were the vertebrae which formed the spine of the separate Telangana movement. This made it natural for the state government to give top priority to the utilisation of available Godavari and Krishna waters to optimal level. At the beginning of the year, the State government inaugurated Bhakta Ramadasu Lift Irrigation Scheme in Khammam district in January to provide irrigation water to 60,000 acres of land. Bhakta Ramadasu project was completed in a record 11 months time. The CM had laid the foundation for the project in February, 2016 in Paliar in Khammam district.
The State government also launched the works for modernisation of Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) in 2017 at an estimated cost of `2,000 crore. The SRSP was reportedly neglected in the erstwhile united State and the project storage capacity was reduced from 112 tmcft to 85 tmcft, and the cultivable area from 16 lakh acres to 5 lakh acres at that time. With its modernisation, the department aimed at providing water to 16 lakh acres again.
CM turns engineer
The engineering streak of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was seen at a recent meeting on KLIS wherein he asked the officials whether the bund of flood flow canal (FFC) could withstand the velocity of water coming from Medigadda. The engineers failed to make any measures to protect the bund. They realised the mistake after Rao pointd it out. Now, the officials have started additional works to strengthen the bund of FFC.
IN THE PIPLELINE
Kaleshwaram will provide water to 18 lakh acres
KLIS water will be pumped first to irrigation tanks
Completion of Kaleshwaram barrages will take some more time
SRSP stage-2 works will be completed in March 2018 to irrigate 4 lakh acres of land
SRSP stage-2 taken up with an estimated cost of `1,321 crore