Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy holding a meeting on irrigation sector in Hyderabad on Saturday. Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumar look on.
hyderabad
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has decided to constitute a committee of experts for a thorough investigation into the damage at Medigadda barrage and the two other barrages of Kaleshwaram LIP — Annaram and Sundilla — and take the necessary measures, based on its report.
He also decided to have an all-party meeting on the Krishna water issue as well as other projects soon. The Irrigation department authorities informed him on Saturday that they had not agreed upon or signed anything for handing over the management of any project, as being reported in the media.
Mr. Reddy is said to have expressed his disappointment over these reports and questioned the officials as to why they were keeping quiet when such reports were being published. He asked them about the meetings held with the Krishna River Management Board, and Ministry of Jal Shakti, since the Congress government assumed office and what transpired in those meetings. He sought to know whether the officials had taken decisions without government nod.
Technical details
On the Kaleshwaram project, he instructed the authorities to take up a thorough study of the damage caused to Medigadda and other barrages, including sinking of piers, to go ahead based on the report of the experts committee. He cautioned them against giving scope of mistakes again in a hurry to repair the damage. The rehabilitation and restoration measures should be taken up only after considering technical details.
Saying that the State had suffered huge financial loss due to the ‘mistakes’ committed by the previous government in the execution of irrigation projects, he said there was no need for compromise on protecting the interests of Telangana even if it costs ₹8,000 crore to ₹10,000 crore for taking up KLIP repairs at about ₹1.5 lakh crore. The panel should comprise experts from the National Dam Safety Authority and senior engineers from the State.
Suggestions invited
He stated that the all-party meeting on the Krishna water issue would discuss why the 299 tmc ft share for Telangana, out of the 811 tmc ft allocation for combined Andhra Pradesh, was agreed for, what were the other decisions taken, what was the truth behind the arguments of the Opposition parties and who were behind the decisions taken in the past, so that everything was kept open before people. Any suggestion that would help protect Telangana’s interests would be taken with a positive approach by the government, he noted.
The CM wanted the authorities to complete all projects that require lesser expenditure, so that farmers could get water early. He told them to complete the excavation of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project tunnel on priority basis to irrigate 4 lakh acres and also speed up work on Narayanpet-Kodangal Lift Irrigation Scheme.
