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Irrigation Projects are life line for Bangaru Telangana
Highlights
Telangana region has a rich heritage of cultivation and irrigation dating back to several centuries. In the past, rulers paid a good deal of attention to the development of irrigation in their kingdoms for the benefit of their subjects. Big lakes like Ramappa, Pakhal, Laknavaram and many other irrigation works of Kakatiya period have become names to remember.
Major Irrigation Projects
Telangana region has a rich heritage of cultivation and irrigation dating back to several centuries. In the past, rulers paid a good deal of attention to the development of irrigation in their kingdoms for the benefit of their subjects. Big lakes like Ramappa, Pakhal, Laknavaram and many other irrigation works of Kakatiya period have become names to remember.
The Mir Alam Tank is the finest example for arched dams. Hussain Sagar, Ghanapur Anicut across the Manjira with two canals called Fathenahar and Mahaboobnahar Projects, Pocharam lake, Osmansagar, Himayatsagar, Nizamsagar Project, Mannair Project, Dindi Project, Palair Project, Wyra Project and Sarlasagar Projects are some of the magnificent contributions of the eminent Engineers of Hyderabad State under Nawab Ali Nawaz Jung Bahadur during the Nizam's kingdom in the Telangana Region.
Projects are classified as under, based on the extent of irrigated ayacut ( commandable area) under them.
| Major Project | : | Ayacut above 25000 Acres (10,000 ha.) |
| Medium Project | : | Ayacut above 5000 Acres (2000 ha) & upto 25000 Acres ( 10000 ha.) |
| Minor Project | : | Ayacut upto 5000 Acres (2000 ha) |
Importance of the tanks in the state
Tanks have been the life line of Telangana owing to the state's geographical positioning. The people of the state are highly dependent on the tanks which are spread across all the 10 districts. The topography and rainfall pattern in Telangana have made tank irrigation an ideal type of irrigation by storing and regulating water flow for agricultural use.
Construction of tanks in Telangana has been an age old activity since pre Satavahana era. During the Kakatiya era, the construction of tanks was carried out with utmost technical expertise. Tanks such as Ramappa, Pakhala, Laknavaram, Ghanapuram, Bayyaram which were built by Kakatiyas resemble seas and they greatly helped agriculture and overall development and prosperity of the Kakatiya kingdom.
This vision and legacy of Kakatiyas were carried forward by Qutubshahis and Asafjahis who ruled this region for centuries. Hundreds of big and small tanks were built in Telangana region during their rule. Government desires to uphold the vision of Kakatiyas which envisages revival and restoration of Minor Irrigation Sources in Telangana State.
Tank irrigation has huge bearing on generation of rural employment, poverty reduction and agricultural growth. The sheer size of command area under tank irrigation makes it a large center of agricultural production and provides a critical opportunity for commercial agriculture through market linkages.
Irrigation policy of the state
Infact, the A.P. irrigation policy, at the instance of Andhra leadership coming from Coastal Andhra, has given rise to uneven development. It emphasized on the major irrigation, whereas the alluvial plains irrigated by the tanks have remained largely insignificant. This irrigation policy resulted in the destruction of age-old water conservation systems with chains of tank networks. The successive Governments successfully ignored the maintenance and development of tanks and allowed them to face extinction by way of siltation, breaches, encroachments etc. With the extinction of tank system, the self-sufficient villages of Telangana have become drought prone areas.
Today the drought is manifested in every facet of human life and it is particularly so with the rural poor. The exodus of people from rural areas of Telangana to Hyderabad and other far off places has made their lives vulnerable. This has also proliferated the squatter settlements and slums in the urban areas. The Krishna, Godavari, Musi and Manjira rivers traverse through the semi-arid lands of Telangana districts especially Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda and Mahabubnagar. But large quantities of water from these rivers are diverted to subsist the industrial, drinking and other needs of Hyderabad and irrigation needs of Andhra. Otherwise, these rivers would have sufficed and satiated the water needs of these districts. Irrigation policies of A.P. exposed the true colours of regional bias and machinations to promote their interests.
This continuous and policy based discrimination in Irrigation Sector turned Telangana Region into a graveyard of farmers and land of migration. Self-sustained villages of Telangana have become drought prone villages. 80 % farmer suicides that occurred in AP state were from Telangana region and millions of people from 10 Telangana districts migrated to far off places like Mumbai, Bhivandi, Surat, Ahmedabad and Gulf countries as laborers in search of livelihood. 16 lakh population from Mahaboobnagar district alone migrated to far off places. Hence, exploitation of water resources has been one of the major concerns of Telangana movement and people strongly felt that creation of a new state of Telangana, that is, state power alone would fetch them water.
Realizing the importance of reclamation of tanks for growth in the state, the Government of Telangana State has taken up the programme of restoring the minor irrigation sources under the title Mission Kakatiya (Mana Ooru Mana Cheruvu). The mission aims at retrieving the lost glory of minor irrigation in the state with community participation for ensuring sustainable water security.
In July 2014 Irrigation Department, Govt of Telangana has carried out for the first time, the census of Minor Irrigation sources in Telangana, which include M.I tanks constructed and maintained by Irrigation Dept., M.I Tanks constructed by Panchayat Raj Dept. and later transferred to Irrigation Dept., Percolation Tanks, Forest Tanks, Private Kuntas, Anicuts and Check dams. As per the enumeration, the total number of tanks is found to be around 46,531. The irrigation department has planned to restore all the 46,531 minor irrigation sources in the state in next five years, taking up 20% of the tanks each year.
The objective of mission Kakatiya
The objective of Mission Kakatiya is to enhance the development of agriculture based income for small and marginal farmers, by accelerating the development of minor irrigation infrastructure, strengthening community based irrigation management and adopting a comprehensive programme for restoration of tanks.
The Government has prioritized to take the restoration of minor irrigation tanks to restore them to store their original capacity and to effectively utilize 255 TMC of water allocated for Minor irrigation sector under Godavari & Krishna River basins.
• The minimum ayacut that can be irrigated with the above allocated water is about 20 lakh acres.
• But as per the statistics the ayacut now being irrigated is only about 9 to 10 lakh acres under Minor Irrigation tanks. Thus, there is a gap ayacut of about 10 lakh acres.
• The reasons for this gap ayacut under Minor Irrigation tanks are due to.
• 1) Loss of water storage capacity of tanks due to accumulation of silt in tank beds over a long period.
• 2) Due to dilapidated sluices, weirs and weak bunds
• 3) De to defunct of feeder channels.
• 4) Due to dilapidated condition of Irrigation canals.
A reconciliation survey was conducted to identify the exact number of all types of Minor irrigation sources in Telangana State. As persurvey 46,531 No of M.I, Small tanks, Percolation tanks, Private Kuntas and Small tanks (constructed by Forest Department) were identified for restoration.
The massive programme for Restoration of tanks is named as "ChinnaNeetiVanarulaPunaruddarana" and it is renamed as "Mission Kakatiya".
The Govt is planned to restore 9,306 Tanks every year (20% of total tanks) with an eventual target of restoring all 46,531 tanks in 5 years, in a phased manner.
The present programme of "MISSION KAKATIYA" is to bring this gap ayauct of 10 lakh acres in to command which requires no further allocation of water and also land acquisition.
This gap ayacut of 10 lakh acres under Minor Irrigation tanks can be brought to Irrigation.
• 1) By de-silting the tank beds to restore original water storage capacity of tanks.
• 2) By repairing dilapidated sluices, weirs etc.,
• 3) By strengthening the tank bunds to its original standards.
• 4) By repairing the feeder channels to standards for getting water freely into tanks.( Part of chain of tanks)
• 5) By re-sectioning of irrigation channelsto standards & Repairs to CM & CD works for smooth distribution of water to fields according to their requirement.
Identification of tanks
1. 1) The District Minister/ local MLA/MLC/Public representatives will be approached to identify priority order for restoration of local tanks.
2. 2) Mandal Assistant Executive Engineer will submit the list of tanks under his Jurisdiction (along with their ayacut) to concerned officials / public representatives.
3. 3) Identify tanks for which repair works have already been taken up under programme like CBTMP, RRR & Normal State Plan, along with type of the repairs taken up.
4. 4) Preference will be given to tanks which have greater ayacut and good source of water.
5. 5) Tanks which have not been covered under any programme will be given priority.
6. 6) The chain of tanks in Mandal will be identified in the 1stphase. Repairs/ Re-sectioning of Feeder channel and Silt removal in the tanks will be taken up as priority basis.
7. 7) One urban tank at constituency Head Quarters will be taken up and developed as Mini Tank Bund.
Advantages of Silt removal& Silt Application
1. a) The water retention capacity of the soil will increase thereby decreasing the number of wettings.
2. b) De-silting will improve ground water recharging capacity and increase the capacity of the tank there by increasing the availability of water even during the summer for irrigation & drinking water purposes.
3. c) As per studies conducted, it is observed that due to de-silting the fluoride content in the ground water will be reduced considerably.
4. d) Silt can be used as nutrient / fertilizer to the plant which generally reduces the usage of fertilizer.
5. e) The yield of the crops like cotton and chillies is increased by 20 to 30%.
Making it as a people's Programme
It is programmed to publicize the importance of Chinna Neeti Vanarula Punaruddharana in the public through wide publicity to make them aware and participate in the massive programme designed by the Government. There is a necessity to motivate and encourage the end users for their participation explaining the Benefits of the tank to the public by various type of media. The respective departments are addressed accordingly to publicize the benefits of the programme and importance of people's participation.
Organization setup
To handle the massive programme Mission Kakatiya the M.I. Sector is reorganized and Strengthened with following Administrative structure.
• 1) Two Chief Engineers, one for Minor Irrigation (Godavari Basin) and Minor Irrigation( Krishna Basin)
• 2) Nodal Officers of Chief Engineer Rank to supervise the progress works are appointed for each district.
• 3) One Superintending Engineer is allotted at District Level.
• 4) One Executive Engineer is allotted for each revenue division.
• 5) One Deputy Executive Engineer for Each Constituency.
• 6) One Assistant Executive Engineer for Each Mandal.
At present there are 556 No of AEEs/AEs, 127 No of Dy.EEs 44 No of EEs & 10 No of SEs are working under Minor Irrigation Sector looking after Mission Kakatiya.
In addition to present organization setup 115 Nos. of Retired Dy.EEs / AEEs / AEs / TOs are engaged on contract basis in the field for effective functioning of Mission Kakatiya works for attaining better results as scheduled.
The works shall be sanctioned only after inspection of concerned officer as per the norms given below issued vide G.O.Ms.No.44 Dt.13.03.2015.
| Task | Powers delegated to | Value in Rs. Lakhs |
| Iinspection before technical sanction | Executive Engineer | up to 100 |
| Superintending Engineer | 100-500 | |
| Chief Engineer | Above 500 | |
| Technical Sanction and Tender Approval | Executive Engineer | 50 |
| Superintending Engineer | 50 to 100 | |
| Technical Sanction | Chief Engineer | Above 100 & up to AA accorded |
| Tenders Approval | Chief Engineer | 100 to 400 |
| Commissioner of Tenders | Above 400 |
So far 8281 nos. of estimates were submitted to Government for Administrative Sanctions against which, the Government have accorded Administrative Approval for 8085 nos. of works costing Rs.2572.16 Cr under Mission Kakatiya.
As a part of MissionKakatiya 1621 No of works costing Rs. 379.21 Crores are funded by NABARD.Government of India has agreed to sanction Restoration of tanks under RRR Phase III. As apart 335 DPRs submitted to CWC after STAC meeting costing Rs. 310.00 Crores and will be started soon.
The balance works are proposed to be taken up with State Plan & World Bank funding.
Budget Allocation
The budget provision for the year 2014-15 is Rs.2016 crores( MI Rs.1671 crores + IDC Rs.345 crores) and 2015-16 is Rs.2083.13 crores ( MI Rs.1783.13 crores + IDC Rs.300 crores) under Minor irrigation including IDC.
Interdepartmental co-ordination
In order to ensure inter departmental coordination at the District level, the Government have constituted the District Level Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Committee for Mission Kakatiya. The composition of the Committee is as follows:
| District Collector | : | Chairman |
| Joint Collector | : | Member |
| Conservator of Forest/Divisional Forest Officer (Social Forestry) | : | Member |
| Superintending Engineer (MI) | : | Member-convener |
| Chief Executive Officer, ZillaParishad | : | Member |
| Joint Director of Agriculture | : | Member |
| Sub-Collectors/Revenue Divisional Officers in the district | : | Member |
| Project Director, DWAMA | : | Member |
| Executive Officer, BC Co-operative Society | : | Member |
| Assistant Director, Fisheries | : | Member |
| District Panchayat Officer | : | Member |
| District Public Relations Officer | : | Member |
| Deputy Director, Ground water | : | Member |
| Chief Planning Officer |
