(From r to l) minists M. Bhatti Vikramarka, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Tummala Nageswara Rao, Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy Hyderabad on Saturday. | Photo Credit: by arrangement
HYDERABAD
Minister for Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday stated that the Congress government was committed to complete Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Project (SRLIP) and Sitamma Sagar Multi-Purpose Project (SSMPP) on a fast-track basis, as both the projects hold key to the future of irrigation and development in southern Telangana.
The Minister chaired a high-level review meeting and it was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, the three hailing from combined Khammam district, and senior officials from the Irrigation department. Former Yellandu MLA Gummadi Narsaiah also participated in the meeting as a special invitee to present local concerns.
Speaking to the officials, Mr. Uttam Reddy said the completion of the two long-pending projects would enable the government to provide assured irrigation facilities to nearly 7.80 lakh acres spread across Khammam, Bhadradri-Kothagudem and Mahabubabad districts. He recalled that the previous government did not even get water allocation done to the Sita Rama project.
However, the Congress government had convinced the Centre and the Central Water Commission (CWC) to allocate 67 tmcft of Godavari river water for the project, the Minister said. Engineers gave a detailed presentation on the status of works and pending issues. They noted that 97% of the SRLIP’s main canal works were completed and the wet run of three major pump-houses was conducted successfully already.
The fourth pump-house of the project was under execution and was expected to be completed soon. The Palair Link Canal, Sathupalli Trunk Canal and Enkoor Link Canal works were at various stages of progress with some bottlenecks still remaining, particularly related to land acquisition, forest clearances and structures near tunnels.
“We can’t afford any more delays and you are expected to move forward with full speed despite some constraints as this is the working season”, he told the engineers. He wanted the authorities concerned to expedite land acquisition across all segments and the issues related to compensatory afforestation must be addressed without further delays.
Further, he asked the engineers to prepare a note with justification for priority payments to contractors and other stakeholders so that the matter could be placed before the Finance department.
On Sitamma Sagar, the Minister said the government was taking steps to secure pending environmental and forest clearances. He noted that some works were earlier taken up without approvals and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had imposed a penalty of ₹53.41 crore. “We are preparing a legal strategy to get the penalty cancelled”, he stated.
He responded positively to the appeal made by Mr. Gummadi Narsaiah for water supply to Yellandu by asking the authorities to study the proposal and revert back.
Published – May 10, 2025 09:19 PM is
