Nalgonda : District In-charge and Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageshwar Rao emphasized that officials should work diligently to prevent drinking water shortages during summer. On Saturday, he, along with Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Legislative Council Chairman Gutta Sukhender Reddy, held a review meeting at Udayaditya Bhavan in Nalgonda with district collectors and officials regarding irrigation, drinking water, and electricity issues.

MLAs brought various concerns to the minister’s attention. Tummala stated that although a meeting was planned in February, it was delayed due to the election code.

He instructed officials at all levels to visit the field, identify issues, and resolve them immediately, involving police and revenue officials.

“Funds will be allocated to collectors for immediate solutions, and MLAs will have funds available through the Chief Minister’s intervention,” he said. He also assured that the process of linking Godavari water to Krishna through the Sitarama Project would be completed within six months.

Legislative Council Chairman Sukhender Reddy stated that the maintenance of canals related to district projects is not being done properly. He emphasized the need for lining the AMRP canal. He pointed out that farmers are using large motors to extract water from the canals, preventing water from reaching the tail-end lands.

Meanwhile, Komatireddy instructed Mission Bhagiratha to ensure that not even an acre of farmland dries up, as crops are currently in the harvesting stage. Despite the installation of transformers, increasing electricity load is causing low-voltage issues, which must be addressed immediately to prevent inconvenience to farmers and the public.

Collectors were asked to focus on drinking water supply and keep Rs 15,000 available for each panchayat. Drinking water needs should be funded from SDF resources.

Collector Ila Tripathi explained the current situation of drinking water, irrigation, and electricity in the district. She stated that around 140 million liters of drinking water are required daily, with no major issues except in merged villages. She requested Rs 30 crores under SDF for pipeline repairs.