Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday emphatically told the State Assembly that redesigning of irrigation projects had become inevitable in the backdrop of inter-State disputes.
“Environmental and wildlife hurdles and construction of over 450 barrages and lift irrigation schemes by upper riparian States Karnataka and Maharashtra across Krishna and Godavari rivers and their tributaries have forced us to take a re-look at the ongoing irrigation projects and go for re-engineering,” Mr. Rao said during a first of its kind audio-visual presentation on the floor of the Assembly.
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao narrated how the flow of water in the rivers, tributaries, rivulets and major streams was being obstructed by the upper riparian States and what the way out to sustain the existing irrigation projects and to make the ongoing and new projects feasible.
In his two-hour-fifty-minute presentation with most of the members of Legislative Council watching it from the Speaker’s gallery, the Chief Minister also explained the evolution of minor irrigation system during the rule of Kakatiyas in the 11 Century AD and development of medium and major irrigation projects during Qutb Shahi and Asaf Jahi dynasties in Telangana and how minor irrigation systems were destroyed in the combined AP rule.
Further, he described how the combined AP government designed projects in Telangana with an intention that they remained incomplete for decades together by entangling them in inter-State disputes and environmental issues. “Their objective is clear that the projects here remained incomplete and the water flowed down without any hindrance. The result is visible for all now with the net irrigated area in Telangana under minor, medium and major sources coming down from over 20 lakh acres at the time of merger in 1956 to 19 lakh acres in 2014 till bifurcation”, he pointed out.
“Come what may, our government will complete all irrigation projects in the next five years towards the goal of creating irrigation potential of one crore acres. All ongoing projects and major components of new projects will be completed over the next three years. The ones in the final stages of completion will be ready by 2017 kharif”, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao stated adding that Rs.5,000 crore more would be allocated to irrigation from next year over and above the Rs.25,000 crore earmarked for timely completion.
