Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed engineers of the water resources department to speed up works on Palamuru-Rangareddy and Dindi lift irrigation schemes aimed at providing irrigation facility and meeting drinking needs in the rain-shadow and fluoride-hit areas of combined Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts.
In a review meeting held here on Saturday, he wanted the engineers to complete major works of Dindi in the next six months and of Palamuru-Rangareddy works by the year-end. He told the officials that the two projects shall not face any scarcity of funds and the government would allocate sufficient funds for them in the coming budget too.
“The State Government has taken a historic decision to ensure speedy execution of works by empowering the officials/engineers at different levels to sanction emergency works with limited expenditure without the necessary of waiting for decisions at state-level”, the Chief Minister noted.
Stating that nowhere in the country such a transfer of power was given, the Chief Minister said Engineer-in-Chief could approve works up to ₹25 crore a year with each work not exceeding the cost of ₹1 crore. Similarly, Chief Engineers could approve works up to ₹5 crore a year with with the cost of every work taken up not exceeding ₹50 lakh.
Further, Superintendent Engineers could sanction works worth ₹2 crore per year with the cost of each work not exceeding ₹25 lakh, Executive Engineers up to ₹25 lakh with each work not exceeding ₹5 lakh and Deputy EEs up to ₹5 lakh with each work not exceeding ₹2 lakh, the Chief Minister said and suggested proper utilisation of the facility to take up urgent works and complete them in time.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to merge the ‘Maskuris’, village-level panchayat workers, with the Water Resources Department and utilise their services as ‘Lashkars’ after giving necessary training in project/water resources management.
During the component-wise review of Palamauru-Rangareddy project, the Chief Minister enquired about the status of Narlapur reservoir and pump-house, Narlapur-Yedula canal, Yedula pump-house, Yedula-Vattem canal, Vattem reservoir, Vattem-Karivena canal, Karivena reservoir, Kairvena-Uddandapur canal including tunnel.
The Chief Minister instructed Principal Secretary (Finance) K. Ramakrishna Rao to release ₹2,000 crore immediately to clear Palamuru-Rangareddy and Dindi projects’ pending bills.
He directed the District Collector of Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda and Rangareddy to pay compensation to those whose lands were being acquired for the two projects. He wanted payment of compensation as per the laws and complete the land acquisition at the earliest.
He also instructed Principal Secretary (Water Resources) Rajat Kumar to order the motors required for the two projects from BHEL and monitor their installation/erection.