Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao said that before the construction of Barrages and reservoirs, the canals should be completed and under Kaleswaram project water should be supplied to the agriculture lands through tanks.
The Chief Minister said that last year tanks were filled with water from canals under SRSP which led to crops in 9 Lakh acres and the value of the crops was Rs 4, 725 Crore.
He said if we spend Rs 10,000 Crore, hundreds of crores worth crops is reaped. With the same spirit Kaleswaram canals should be completed and tanks should be filled up with water supplied through the canals, he said.
The Chief Minister said at the point where Pranahita meets Indravathi in Godavari, plenty of water is available and if the state utilises water allocated to it there will not be any water scarcity in future.
He suggested that the places where water cannot be supplied through the projects, smaller water resources should be developed. In the Telangana state every year Rs 1.25 lakh Crores worth crops can be raised and this is equivalent to the Annual State Budget.
On Tuesday, the Chief Minister held a review meeting on the Irrigation projects at Pragati Bhavan here. Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao, Special Chief Secretary SK Joshi, Addl Principal secretary to CM Shanti Kumari, Secretary Smita Sabharwal, MP K Prabhakar Reddy, Chief Whip Koppula Eswar, Whip Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, E-in-C Muralidhar, senior official Hare Ram and others participated.
The Chief Minister has examined the designs pertaining to Kondapochamma Sagar whose storing capacity is increased and accepted them. He has instructed that tenders to the Kondapochamma Sagar having 15 TMC capacity should be invited forthwith and complete the reservoir in 8 to 10 months.
He has announced that the TS Transco has made arrangments to supply power to the lift irrigation projects to supply water to one crore acres in the State. He has reiterated that the power bills for the lift irrigation projects will be paid by the irrigation department.
He said that the expenditure incurred by the government for agriculture is considered to be spending on farmers but never a burden on the exchequer.
The Irrigation department, which is busy constructing the irrigation projects, should revamp itself to maintain the projects later. There should be clarity on how many Engineers-in-Chief? How many CEs and where should they be deployed.
The entire official machinery should not be centred only in Hyderabad but should spread across the field areas. The Chief Minister said recalled that during the united AP rule Officials set up was organised in favour of Andhra region.
Now in the Telangana state the official administration should be in tune with the projects, which are being constructing now and the 31 districts. (INN)