The Andhra Pradesh government has set an ambitious target of completing 62 major and minor irrigation projects before May next year, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said here on Monday.
“From the Vamsadhara project in north coastal Andhra to the Gandikota project in Kadapa district, this government has designed projects aimed at tapping every drop of water. Of the 62 irrigation projects, we have completed 17 and the rest will be completed by May-end,’’ Mr. Naidu told a gathering of farmers after laying the foundation stone for the first phase of the Godavari-Penna river- linking project here on Monday.
The project is designed to be completed in five phases at a cost of ₹83,796 crore, with the first phase beginning with the diversion of Godavari river waters at Harischandrapuram and construction of a lift irrigation scheme at Nakerikallu, 80 km from Vijayawada. The project is designed to be completed at a cost of₹6,020 crore and would require 3,500 acres of land, which is to be acquired from farmers.
Deadline
“I have set a deadline of five months for the first phase and I want land acquisition completed within three months. Farmers should get inspired by the magnanimity shown by farmers in Amaravati, who parted with 35,000 acres to facilitate the construction of a greenfield city,’’ Mr. Naidu said.
Stressing the need to conserve water in the State ravaged by successive years of drought, Mr. Naidu said that the Pattiseema project has saved the standing crop in Krishna Western Delta and raised farm incomes by ₹20,000 crore in Guntur and Krishna districts. The largest irrigation project in the country — Polavaram — is in final stages of completion and by May next year, works relating to the coffer dam and installation of radial crest gates would be completed. The Godavari-Penna river-linking project would be completed within two years, he added.
AP Assembly Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, who arranged the meeting at the Nagarjuna Sagar Project canal office, hailed Mr. Naidu as ‘apara Bhageeratha’ and said that the river-linking project would transform the lives of lakhs of farmers in the Palnadu region and Prakasam district.
Ministers Prathipati Pulla Rao, Nakka Ananda Babu and Collector Kona Sasidhar were present.
