Price hike delays Jalayagnam

The steep hike in steel, cement and sand prices, and labour charges are the reason for the delay in the construction of major irrigation projects, officials have explained to major irrigation minister Peddi Sudarshan Reddy.

At a cabinet sub-committee on Jalayagnam meeting held here on Thursday to review the progress of irrigation projects, officials said the hike in the raw material prices was also one of the reasons for the slow progress of works.

The sub-committee directed the officials to prepare package-wise and projectwise reports on how to speed up the works. The sub-committee, in turn, will prepare a report mentioning the bottlenecks in the construction of projects, and submit it to chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy by the end of this month.

The cabinet sub-committee felt that the construction of projects was being delayed due to petty reasons and wanted the officials to explain the reasons and solutions and place the report before the sub-committee’s next meeting on September 12.

Sub-committee members Peddi Sudarshan Reddy (major irrigation), Anam Ramanarayana Reddy (finance), N Raghuveera Reddy (revenue) and J Geetha Reddy (major industries) attended the meeting.

Minor irrigation minister TG Venkatesh, who is accompanying chief minister on his tour of Kurnool district, could not make it to the meeting.

At its next meeting on September 12, the sub-committee will discuss land acquisition, rehabilitation, forest lands, permissions required on national and state highways, shifting of power transmission lines and railway lines.

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