Hyderabad, May 19 (RAHNUMA): The State government has accorded top priority to irrigation projects in the Palamuru region to address the historical backwardness and chronic drought conditions prevailing in the area, Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
The Minister on Tuesday conducted an extensive review meeting at the Secretariat on the status of irrigation projects in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district with MLAs and Ministers from the region.
Ministers Jupally Krishna Rao and Vakiti Srihari, Irrigation Secretary E. Sridhar and Engineer-in-Chief General Ramesh Babu participated in the meeting.
Uttam Kumar Reddy assured the elected representatives that the progress of the Palamuru irrigation projects was being closely monitored and that sustained efforts were underway to resolve bottlenecks affecting execution.
He stated that projects in the Palamuru region were being treated on par with major priority schemes such as Devadula, SLBC and Sitarama projects, and that the government was making all-out efforts to complete them at the earliest.
The Minister said the Congress government was committed to correcting the injustice done to the Palamuru region during the previous BRS government’s ten-year tenure. He assured the MLAs that another dedicated review meeting on Palamuru projects would be convened within a fortnight to reassess priorities and accelerate implementation.
Highlighting the importance of the Jurala Project, Uttam Kumar Reddy said the government was taking steps to address severe sedimentation issues that had reduced the reservoir’s storage capacity to below eight TMC. He said proposals had already been submitted to the Ministry of Jal Shakti to consider Jurala project for assistance under the DRIP (Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project).
The Minister expressed confidence that desiltation works under DRIP would significantly improve dam safety, storage capacity and operational efficiency of the Jurala reservoir.
Dismissing BRS claims that the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation project was “90 per cent complete” as a myth, he said it was misleading. He observed that the project had suffered major setbacks after the off-take point was shifted from Jurala to the Srisailam reservoir during the previous regime.
He further pointed out that tenders called by the BRS government for distributor network did not help the project as the land acquisition process for the canal system was not completed. It led to implementation hurdles.
Officials at the meeting were directed to prepare a comprehensive report detailing the progress of works, and priority-wise execution schedules for all ongoing projects in the region.
The Minister also instructed officials to fast-track desiltation of minor irrigation tanks, undertake urgent canal repairs and improve water distribution infrastructure ahead of the monsoon season.
