Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed officials of the Water Resources Department to focus on speedy execution of the Polavaram, Poola Subbaiah Veligonda head regulator, Nellore and Sangam barrages, Owk tunnel-2, Vamsadhara-Nagavali link, and B.R.R. Vamsadhara stage-II projects, and has given the nod for recruiting the required number of mechanical and electrical engineers.
R&R package
In a review meeting on irrigation projects at his camp office on Wednesday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the government’s endeavour was to complete the Polavaram project by the end of 2021, and ordered that priority be given to the relief and rehabilitation of the displaced families.
The officials told the Chief Minister that 71% of the Polavaram head works and canals had been finished and efforts were under way to erect 48 gates by April 2021. Spill concrete works slowed down to some extent due to the impact of COVID on the workforce.
Veligonda project
The Chief Minister directed the officials to store 23 tmcft and 10 tmcft in the Gandikota and Chitravathi balancing reservoirs this year itself, and to give importance to the Veligonda head regulator project to facilitate supply of water to lakhs of acres of parched land in Prakasam district.
The officials informed him that steps were taken to complete the Vamsadhara-Nagavali link project by the end of 2020, and the letters written to Odisha Chief Minister for high-level deliberations to settle the disputes on Janjhavati and other inter-State projects were awaiting response.
Focus was laid on the construction of offshore reservoir on the Mahendratanaya river in Srikakulam district and Tarakarama Teertha Sagar in Vizianagaram, the officials said.
Water Resources Minister P. Anil Kumar, Special Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das and engineer-in-chief C. Narayana Reddy were present.
