HYDERABAD: The Irrigation department plans to come with a mobile application that will help it monitor the progress of construction of offtake sluices (OTSs) in the State.
The construction of the OTSs would begin immediately, and they would have to get over in 45 days. These sluices are needed to supply water from the Godavari river to minor irrigation tanks in several districts.
The State government has accorded administrative sanction for the construction of over 3,000 OTSs, at a cumulative cost of Rs 4,200 crore.
“The first phase of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme will be made operational during this Kharif season. Godavari water released from Kaleshwaram will be diverted to minor irrigation tanks. For this, we would need offtake points at the canals,” said officials in the department.
The officials said the task of constructing OTSs is an important one. A mobile application would help them track the work better, he said. The State government has also planned to construct around 1,200 check dams at different places which would fall within 4th to 8th order of irrigation basin, which was mapped recently. However, the deadline for the construction of check-dams is March 2020.
“The mobile application will help monitor the progress of the construction of both the OTSs and check-dams,” T Vijaykaran Reddy, Superintending Engineer of Dindi project, told Express on Thursday.
Reddy has worked at the Centre for Good Governance (CGG) in the recent past.
“We are taking the support of both the CGG and officials of the Irrigation department to develop the application,” he said.
Reddy said that ground-level officials of the Irrigation Department would upload photos, status reports of OTSs and check-dams on a regular basis on the application.