Works will be over by March: Harish

Mission Kakatiya- Phase II

• The Minister said his department has been reorganised by appointing sufficient staff for timely completion of works

Hyderabad: Having learnt lessons from the hurdles faced during the first phase of Mission Kakatiya, the Telangana government has come out with a time-bound action plan for the revival of tanks under the second phase of the programme.

Inaugurating a workshop ahead of launching the second phase, Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao said here on Monday that 50 per cent of works would be launched by January 7 and the rest by January 22.

“Taking into account the hiccups in executing works in the first phase, foolproof arrangements have been made to complete the works on schedule,” the Minister said. Instructing the officials to complete all pending works before March 31, Harish said the department had been reorganised by appointing sufficient staff in every district for the timely completion of works.

“Rs 2,200 crore had been earmarked for the restoration and revival of tanks every year. In united Andhra Pradesh, the then State government allocated only Rs 1,400 crore for minor irrigation for five years,” he observed.

Harish said it was unfortunate that tanks were not filled with water as the State received scanty rainfall this year. However, farmers in Khammam, Warangal and Adilabad districts, which received normal rainfall, protected their crops by using water from revived tanks.

“The tanks would have have been filled with water if the State received bountiful rainfall”, Harish said. He added that transparency adopted in executing the works received accolades from many including the World Bank.

Finance Minister E Rajender said Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s initiative and the Irrigation Minister’s commitment was the secret behind successful implementation of Mission Kakatiya. State Irrigation Secretary S K Joshi and Engineer-in-Chief K Madhava Rao and others were also present.