Telangana CS asks officials for draft plan on rainwater harvesting

Hyderabad : Telangana Chief Secretary Dr. S.K. Joshi on Monday directed the officials to prepare a draft plan on the preservation and utilisation of rainwater.

Chairing a meeting on rainwater harvesting on the directions of Union Ministry for Water Resources at the State Secretariat, the Chief Secretary said that several measures for rainwater harvesting taken by various departments after the formation of Telangana were delivering good results. He said those measures, along with their outcome, needs to be documented properly. He said a comprehensive report needs to be prepared on increase in food production, capacity of water reservoirs, forest cover, underground water table and condition of lakes and tanks after Telangana formation. He said the cultivation area has been increased to 62 lakh acres through major, medium and minor irrigation projects.

Joshi said as many as 17,860 water bodies were protected under Mission Kakatiya and an ayacut of 12.47 lakh acres has been added. He said 67 new checkdams were constructed with a cost of Rs. 211 crore since 2014 and rainwater was effectively being used through initiatives like 'Tail to Head' modernisation. He said micro-irrigation measures have improved the agricultural output.

The Chief Secretary also directed the officials to assess the impact of water harvesting structures in the urban areas.

The meeting was also attended by Agriculture Principal Secretary Parthasarathy, HMWSSB Managing Director Dana Kishore, Kakatiya Urban Development Authority Commissioner Mansoor, Horticulture Commissioner Venkatram Reddy, Additional PCCF Lokesh Jaiswal and other senior officials of Rural and Urban Development departments.