HYDERABAD: What will be the fate of farmers and the people of Palamuru if the Apex Council or the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) do not give their nod for the Kalwakurthy and Nettempadu lift irrigation schemes within six months? Though the two projects have been completed, they are yet to be approved by any agency.
There are around eight lakh acres of ayacut under these two projects and a large number of villages and towns were dependent on these projects for drinking water to be supplied under Mission Bhagiratha.
If the approval is not obtained within six months from the date of notification, the projects shall cease to operate, as per the gazette issued by the Jal Shakti Ministry.
Senior officials are hopeful that the KRMB or Apex Council will give the approvals within six months.
“We will submit the required documents to the KRMB. We are expecting these completed projects to be given approval within the next six months,” an official said.
The ayacut under Nettempadu had been two lakh acres and the one under Kalwakurthy 4.5 lakh acres. The State government also spent thousands of crores of rupees on the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, which will be useful mostly for the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district. Almost 70 per cent of civil works have been completed, and the electric works have already commenced.
Official sources pointed out that the floodwater-based projects need not obtain the Central Water Commission (CWC) permission for construction. They also said that either the KRMB or the Apex Council should clear the projects and help the parched lands of Mahabubnagar.