TS has highest number of water bodies: Harish

Hyderabad: Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao said Telangana had more number of lakes and ponds than any other State in the country.

Speaking at a workshop on ‘Agricultural Development and Mission Kakatiya’ at Prof Jayashankar Agricultural University, Harish Rao accused the previous Congress government of grossly neglecting lakes and ponds in the State.

He said water bodies were dug over 1,000 years ago. As the united AP government least bothered about developing the lakes and tanks, the farmers and poor from backward districts migrated to other States for livelihood, he remarked. “Had the successive governments not ignored the lakes, Telangana would not have a deserted look with parched lands,” Harish deplored.

Keeping this in view, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao gave top priority to Mission Kakatiya, which aimed to provide irrigation waters on time to farming community in the State. On becoming functional, lakes and ponds would prove handy for farmers to draw waters in time and reap rich benefit through more yield, he added.
Restoration works for 3,000 out of 45,000 lakes in first phase would be taken up soon, he said. He asked the farmers to make use of the desilted soil from the lakes which would turn lands fertile leading to good crop yield and reduce use of fertilisers.