Andhra Pradesh

Expedite repair of water bodies: Minister

Sangareddy: Minister for Major Irrigation and Sugar J. Geetha Reddy directed engineers to speed up repairs to all water bodies on a war footing. According to a press release here today, the Minister, who reviewed the progress of minor irrigation works at the Secretariat in Hyderabad, expressed concern over the tardy progress. The Chief Minister had earlier sanctioned Rs. 100 crore for 1421 works in the district but so far only 630 works were completed at a cost of Rs. 30 crore.

The repair works were supposed to be completed by July just in time for the Kharif season. However the dried and deeply silted water bodies in most of the semi-arid regions of the district require immediate attention.

The government also sanctioned 89 new watersheds for the remote Narayankhed constituency.

The works would be undertaken at a cost of Rs. 4.8 crore. Similarly, repairs to the Mahboobnehar canal, 20 lift irrigation schemes and work on five newly-sanctioned lift irrigation schemes would begin by July.

The irrigation department has submitted plans for adding 40,000 acres of ayacut through two canals of Singur at a cost of Rs. 88 crore and to modernize Nallavagu and Ghanpur canals at a cost of Rs. 20.20 crore.

On the other hand the State government has released an additional grant of Rs. 40 crore for the ongoing protected drinking water scheme intended to supply drinking water to Gajwel, Narsapur, Dommat and Ramayampet assembly segments.

Work on laying the pipeline connecting these three segments has begun and the government has released Rs. 100 crore, in two phases, for this purpose. However, work on phase two of this project is yet to begin due to delay in the tender process. The government hopes that work on the drinking water project would be completed by December.

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