HYDERABAD: The civil work taken up by the Irrigation Department has not been stopped completely, but are progressing at a slow pace owing to the lockdown in the State.
Meanwhile, the civil work with regard to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) in several districts and Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district has not been hindered because of the Covid-19 outbreak.
However, work on over 1,200 check-dams has been stopped owing to insufficient labour force. According to a senior official in the Irrigation Department, for major projects such as Kaleshwaram, Palamuru-Rangareddy, Devadula and Sitarama Lift Irrigation Scheme, labourers were hired by the agencies on contract basis.
Even since the lockdown was imposed in the State, they have stayed put at the camps at their respective work sites. Owing to the contract, they cannot leave for their native places even if the work is stalled.
“These labourers are being provided food, masks and sanitisers by the contractors,” an official source said. At present, the work on Kaleshwaram project has been on at link 2, link 4 and at link 15 and 16. However, with regard to the work on check-dams, the tendering process was delayed in March due to non-availability of online services for some days in that month. Even if the tenders were finalised for some check-dams, there are not enough labourers to carry out the work.
For check-dams, the contractors usually engage local labourers and given the lockdown, they have left for their native villages.
“There is no problem in continuing work with regard to major irrigation projects now. But work on check-dams has slowed down,” the official sources said. The Irrigation Department has also called for tenders for lifting one more tmc of water from Medigadda.
“The work will commence once the tenders are finalised. The economic slowdown and lockdown will not have any impact on irrigation projects, as they are not depended on the budgetary allocations,” the official sources said.