Even as a fierce debate is on over neglect of irrigation projects in Telangana, a top Irrigation department official on Friday furnished figures showing a major chunk, Rs.30,000 crore, being spent on projects taken up under Jalayagnam programme in the region.
Over 35 out of 86 projects taken up under Jalayagnam are being built in Telangana and the expenditure of Rs.30,000 crore worked out to nearly 45 per cent of Rs.67,802 crore spent on the programme all over the State, according to C. Muralidhar, Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation department.
The share was in terms of planning and construction of irrigation projects, allocation of funds, and implementation.
The difference
But when it comes to the achievement of targets and supply of water from the projects, there is a difference. While water was supplied to 9.7 lakh acres in Andhra region under completed projects, it was 6.62 lakh acres in Telangana and 4.84 lakh acres in Rayalaseema.
Figures provided by the official at a media conference here showed that out of a massive quantity of 1,441 tmcft of water planned for being utilised from various rivers under Jalayagnam, 650 tmcft was meant for Telangana.
For many projects in the region, the Godavari was selected as the source as over 4,000 tmcft would go into the sea from this river untapped during a good flood year. The mighty river passes through five districts of Telangana region.
Telangana almost equals with Andhra region in respect of irrigation potential created so far under Jalayagnam. The new ayacut planned finally under the programme in Telangana was 49.8 lakh acres while it was 50.8 lakh acres in Andhra and 18.8 lakh acres in Rayalaseema.
