Marathon ends; officials told to be on toes

Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao asks the quality control officials to be watchful; directs them to carry out inspection of works everyday
Hyderabad: Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao asked the quality control wing of his department to form a task force headed by an Executive Engineer rank official to conduct inspections of project works in the State. The Minister’s direction had come during the marathon review meeting with the Chief Engineers of various districts and projects and senior officials of the department which concluded on Sunday.

Harish asked the quality control officials to be watchful and directed them to carry out inspection of works everyday by junior and assistant engineers. This had to be followed by the inspections by the executive engineers for every two days, besides surprise inspections by the Superintendent Engineers, he said.

Asking the quality control wing to embrace the latest technologies in line with the changing trends, he also asked them to hold regular workshops and training for the officials of the quality control and other wings in the department.

Further, as the State would get World Bank funds under the Dam Rehabilitation Improvement Programme, he asked the CE’s of various dams to prepare detailed estimates and send the same to the Centre by August 10.

The meeting had also discussed key issues on the dam management, protection and security, including operation of dam gates, lighting, and installation of CCTV cameras linking the same to the nearest police station, strengthening of approach roads, painting, generators and the like.

Harish Rao also discussed with the officials about the preparedness and how to gear up the entire irrigation machinery in case of heavy rains, floods and how to respond in case of emergency situations.

The Minister said about 35,000 acres had been provided water through Singuru Irrigation project in Sanga Reddy district. In turn, this had brought back about 759 farmers from Andol and Pulkal who had migrated along with their families to Hyderabad and other places in search of livelihoods, he said.

Stressing on the interrelation of the irrigation and village development in Telangana, the Minister asked the official to rededicate themselves in achieving the vision of the government to provide water to about 1.2 crore acres by completing the project on time.
He also pointed out that the MoU between the irrigation and National Remote Sensing Agency had started yielding results and the entire irrigation sector would be automated, which would strengthen the capacity of the department.

Expressing displeasure over the pending court cases for decades, the Minister directed the legal officials of the department to effectively present the interests of people involved for getting favourable orders so as to resolve the legal issues early for the completion of projects.

Special Chief Secretary CS Joshi, Irrigation Principal Secretary Vikas Raj, ENC Muralidhar, Vijay Prakash, consultant on lift irrigation schemes Penta Reddy and consultant, forest, Sudhakar, along with 15 chief engineers and other senior officials took part in the review meeting.