Godavari water for 40 lakh acres:Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao

Says if farmers are not given enough water for irrigation, it would be a great sin

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao instructed the officials to keep the canals under Sriram Sagar Project (SRSP) ready to enable supply of water to cent percent ayacut by next year. The Chief Minister wanted water to be supplied to 16 lakh acres from SRSP, another 24 lakh acres from other projects and the total 40-lakh acres should get the Godavari waters.

He said projects were being constructed in Telangana based on its share of water in the Godavari and there was a possibility of utilising water from the Kaleswaram project from next year.

He said there was adequate availability of water and funds, in such a situation if farmers were not given water for irrigation, it would be a great sin. He wanted canals in the 346-km stretch from SRSP to Nadigudem be ready and said the government was ready to spend any amount of funds.

Under SRSP, 16 lakh acres and 8.5 lakh acres under Lower Manair Dam (LMD) water should be supplied for two crops and all the tanks under these projects should be filled up. The Chief Minister also instructed the officials concerned to study the viability of turning the tanks in Palakurthi, Station Ghanpur, Dornakal, and Tungaturthy constituencies into reservoirs and prepare estimates.

The Chief Minister held a review meeting on optimum utilisation of SRSP at Pragati Bhavan here on Monday. “Under the united AP rule, they had shown SRSP as constructed and created an impression as though water was given. But water is never given at an optimal level. Water did not reach the final ayacut. Farmers suffered a lot due to lack of water. Now, we can make it and the results should reach the farmers,” he said.

Under the united AP, Telangana had 950 TMC ft of water available and this was not utilised. Now with the projects we were constructing, we would be utilising 500 to 600 TMC ft of water, the Chief Minister said. “Due to the efforts of the government formed after the Telangana formation, we have reached an agreement with Maharashtra government and we are constructing new projects. We are constructing barrages at Medigadda, Annaram, Sundilla and Kothur.

Water will be available in abundance in Yellampally, Mid Manair and lower Manair. Water is available all the time in the 275-km stretch in the Godavari river from Basar to Bhadrachalam stretch of 500 km. Fill up the reservoirs and tanks regularly and be ready to supply water through canal whenever it is required,” the Chief Minister instructed.

“There is availability of water and for the first time in the country, we are spending Rs 35,000 crore per year on irrigation. We have to take advantage of the situation,” he suggested.

Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari, MLAs E Dayakar Rao, Redya Naik and Kishore made requests on the reservoirs in their constituencies to Chandrashekar Rao. He responded positively to the suggestion given by Prashant Reddy on the modernisation of Laxmi Canal, which is main for the Choutupalli Hanmanthreddy Lift Canal.

The Chief Minister also instructed the officials to provide water to the fields that lay between the Flood Flow Canal and the SRSP.