Live
- Omar Abdullah Urges Congress To Earn INDIA Bloc Leadership Role
- Historic Temple In Sambhal Reopens After 46-Year Closure Following 1978 Riots
- Officials directed to work for deeper reach of guarantees
- Delay In 'One Nation, One Election' Bills Introduction Announced
- Exhilarating ‘Benchmark’ of Venkat Changavalli
- Development activities worth `30 cr launched in Puthalapattu constituency
- Allegations against KTR baseless: BRS leader
- Megastar Chiranjeevi to Visit Allu Arjun’s Residence at 12 PM Today
- Nilima Rane: Trailblazer in Nursing
- Casual yet stylish office outfits for all-day comfort
Fund crunch haunts Minister
The modernization works, which were sanctioned on saturation basis during YS Rajasekhara Reddy regime, have come to haunt Minister for Irrigation Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, as his fund-starved department is looking at works to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore.
Irrigation modernization
Works worth Rs 3,000 crore were sanctioned during YSR regime, left incomplete
The irrigation department is now facing acute funds shortage
Hyderabad: The modernization works, which were sanctioned on saturation basis during YS Rajasekhara Reddy regime, have come to haunt Minister for Irrigation Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, as his fund-starved department is looking at works to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore.
According to sources, the works include construction of retaining walls on river banks, bridges, laying of roads and a host of other things. As the works were more in number, same contractors had bid to several works. For example, IVRCL bagged six to seven contracts, Megha Engineering bagged several works.
With lack of clarity on which project has to be undertaken first, the firms started several works at a time but couldn’t complete them. Post-bifurcation, a proposal has been moved to terminate the contracts of those who had failed to executive the works. However, the government is yet to take a decision on this issue.
Meanwhile, an expert committee appointed by the government had recommended that the Irrigation Department should not take up any works with their funds. The committee opined that the works like construction of bridges and roads is the job of R&B and Panchayat Raj departments.
Sources said that the committee had come to such a conclusion as some of the works were taken up due to the political pressure. However, some cite lack of funds as the reason and the government wanted to prioritise the modernization works on need-based. The government decided that works will be taken up only where the river banks are vulnerable, weak and are in a dilapidated condition.
The issue has been brought to the notice of Uma Maheswara Rao and it is learnt that he is struggling over cancellation of existing contracts for non-execution of works, identification of need-based modernisation works, along with the new works being proposed by the ruling party MLAs.
