Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao on Sunday said efforts were on to complete the pending irrigation projects at the earliest to avoid wastage of floodwater.
“Instead of discharging floodwater into the sea, we can make use of it to cultivate barren lands,” he said while addressing the media at Dowleswaram.
Inter-linking of rivers
Reviewing the flood situation, the Minister said that about 1,100 tmcft water was discharged into the Bay of Bengal in the current monsoon season alone.
“Inter-linking of rivers is the only way to protect water. After successful interlinking of the Godavari and the Krishna, the government is keen on inter-linking the Nagavali and the Vamsadhara,” he said, adding that efforts were under way to construct one more barrage at Vaikunthapuram, upstream of Prakasam Barrage, to make better use of the Krishna waters.
