KADAPA: In a bid to complete the Telugu Ganga project in the next 20 months, works have been expedited at an estimated cost of 28 crores. The project, which is almost 90 per cent completed in Kadapa, has been providing irrigation water to lakhs of acres of land and drinking water to hundreds of villages and towns in the district for the last 15 years. Once the project is completed over, the last mile ayacut under the project will also receive irrigation water and drinking water, fulfilling its objective.
The pendency of mere 75 acres of land acquisition for the project along the main canals has rendered the project incomplete in the last one and a half decades. In fact, in 2011, GO 365 was issued closing the Jayalagnam project works.
However, the present government is determined to complete the pending works of the Telugu Ganga project and ensure that last mile connectivity of the project is achieved.
Recently, 28 crores were sanctioned for the completion of the pending works, which are in bits and pieces of the projects. The total land irrigated under Telugu Ganga project in Kadapa district is 1.5 lakh acres and the government wants to achieve it. Besides 28 crores, another 6.4 crores was released for land acquisition of the 75 acre of land.
According to Water Resources department officials, Telugu Ganga Right and Left main canal works are expected to be completed by December 2024.
Once all the works are completed, another 30,000 acres of land under Gundam Raju Palle branch canal, Obulam Branch canal will be irrigated. Besides SR 1 and SR 2 of the project, 11 mandals under Brahmam Sagar project will receive water. Chintarapalle tank will be strengthened, releasing water downstream as discharge rate of 12,000 cusecs.