Projects to be completed on time: Sujatha

Eluru: The Government has decided to release water to the third crop in the district between March and April 10, said the Minister for Women and Child Welfare Peethala Sujatha.

Inaugurating a workshop organised by the Department of Water Resources on ‘Irrigation - Advanced Action Plan held here at Sir CR Reddy College on Tuesday, the Minister said that the State government was giving top priority to complete all the irrigation projects in the State.

In the ensuring crop season, irrigation water would be supplied to the 3rd crop covering 3 lakh acres during the period of March to April 10.

The workshop held as part of the Neeru-Pragathi programme will discuss on the usage of water resources available for the purpose of irrigation projects.

The workshop will continue until February 9 across all the districts in the State. As part of ensuring supply of water to all the crops in the State, the workshop will invite suggestions from farmers, engineering students and others on the ways of utilising irrigation water.

MLC Ramu Surya Rao, who spoke at the workshop said: “We have to utilise the available water resources properly. As far as water is concerned, there is a need for the conservation of water and all should join hands in the water conservation programmes”.

The Minister stressed on the need to bring additional ayacut under irrigation in the district. Out of 21 lakh acres of land, 13 lakh acres are already under cultivation in the district and another 3.28 lakh acres of forest land are available for cultivation in the district, added the minister.

Crops are being cultivated covering 5.29 lakh acres of land under the Godavari western delta and 58,000 acres under the Krishna eastern delta, she informed.

In addition to this, there are plans to supply water to 7 lakh acres of land covering the Polavaram irrigation project and another 2 lakh acres covering the Chintalapudi Lift Irrigation Scheme (CLIS).

“Comprehensive information covering the water resources and ground water levels in the state has been made available in the Chief Minister’s core dashboard”, informed the engineer-in-chief Ravikumar who participated at the workshop.

Engineering students are welcome to examine the CM’s core dashboard and share their ideas on water conservation and utility, said Ravikumar.

Polavaram Chief Engineer VS Ramesh Babu said that the Polavaram project proposal was nothing new. In fact, a related proposal was submitted during the period of 1942-45, he maintained.

After independence, the Centre took interest in taking up the construction of Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam projects only, said Ramesh Babu.

Polavaram project got delayed due to inter-state border issues and pending environmental clearances. He expressed confidence that since all the requisite permissions are ready now, the project would be completed in two years time.

Should the Polavaram project gets completed about 7.20 lakh acres of new ayacut would be irrigated and 80 tmc Godavari water would be diverted to the Krishna River.

Further, 24 tmc could be utilised for the purpose of Visakhapatnam’s drinking and industry needs. Besides, the project will have a power generating capacity of 960 megawatts of power, added Ramesh Babu.

Water Resources SE K Srinivasa Rao, MLC Angara Ramamohan and the District Collector Katamneni Bhaskar, Distribution Committee Chairman Potturi Ramaraju, Godavari Delta system Chief Engineer MT Raju, C R Reddy College Governing body Chairman Kommareddy Rambabu, retired chief engineer D Subba Rao, retired superintendent engineer MV Krishna Rao alongside the irrigation experts and engineering students too participated in the workshop.