Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has directed the engineers of the Irrigation Department to prepare an action plan to provide water to the ayacut, at least in the first phase of the lift irrigation projects being planned on the river Godavari, by 2017 monsoon.
In a review meeting held here on Sunday, the projects proposed on Godavari were discussed at length.
Ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao and G. Jagadish Reddy, Advisor to Government R. Vidyasagar Rao, Principal Secretary S.K. Joshi, Engineer-in-Chief C. Muralidhar, OSD Sridhar Rao Deshpande, Chief Engineers B. Hariram, M. Purushothama Raju, Anil Kumar and others were present at the meeting.
Barrages
The Chief Minister directed the engineers to take up construction of barrages at Tummidihatti, Kaleshwaram and Kothur (to supplement water to Devadula) simultaneously.
He told them to plan two more barrages to lift water till Yellampalli. Work on canals, tunnels, lifts and reservoirs should also begin at once by preparing an action plan.
Asking the engineers to examine the possibility of grounding at least some works by the month-end, the Chief Minister said the government’s aim is to make agriculture a profitable vocation by providing irrigation facility and other support. In addition to the existing Mid Manair and Lower Manair reservoirs, new ones would have to be constructed at Kaleshwaram, Yellamapalli, Imambad, Ananthagiri, Gandhamalla, Baswapur, Gowrapalli, Pamulaparthi and Mallannasagar. He told the engineers to redesign Rajivsagar and Indirasagar projects to suit the needs of Telangana.
The Chief Minister asked them to keep in mind to limit the extent of acquisition of land and displacement of people but to create maximum irrigation potential. As the government would be allocating Rs.25,000 crore for irrigation sector every year, it was the responsibility of the departments concerned to execute works as per plan, he said.
The Chief Minister asked the authorities to be cautious against the contract agencies which would bag works by quoting less and leaving the works unfinished midway. He suggested that two per cent incentive too should be given to those contractors who would complete the works as per schedule.
The meeting had a unanimous opinion on constructing as many barrages across Godavari as possible in the State.
108 posts
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also signed files pertaining to sanction of 108 posts of engineers in higher positions. Accordingly, eight more Chief Engineers posts would be created in addition to the existing 14 and the number of Superintending Engineers would go up from 49 to 46, that of Executive Engineers from 183 to 204, Deputy EEs from 619 to 674 besides others.
