Provide Palamuru waters to Kalwakurthy canals: Agri Minister Niranjan Reddy to officials

Hyderabad: State Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy asked the officials to take steps for fetching water from the Palamuru project to Kalwakurthy canals.

The Minister reviewed the works of Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation and Palamuru Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation projects here on Sunday, following the directions of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

He asked to fetch 1,850 cusecs of water to the Vattem project and said that the ayacut under the Kalwakurthy project has gone up. However, the carrying capacity of the existing canals was not enough to meet the requirement, he said.

Niranjan Reddy said there was a feasibility of operating five pumps at the project. But, the earlier governments have constructed the canals with lesser water carrying capacity which has now become a hurdle to provide water to the ayacut.

The Minister said that the Kalwakurthy project was constructed for 2.5 lakh acres of ayacut but currently it has gone up to 4 lakh ayacut. "There are pumps to lift the much-needed quantity of water. But, the under-capacity canals are not in a position to take the water to the ayacut," he added.

He said that the works of the Palamuru-Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Project are nearing completion. Against this backdrop, the Chief Minister has approved the proposal to provide water to the additional ayacut under the Kalwakurthy project from PRLIP, from Vattem reservoir, he said. Niranjan Reddy said that the originally proposed ayacut under the Kalwakurthy was 1.8 lakh acres. But, the ayacut under its canals has crossed 3 lakh acres. To meet the new demand, it was proposed to provide water from the Vattem reservoir, he said.

However, he asked the officials to ensure that the reservoir's construction should cover more ayacut with less submergence.

During the meeting, the Minister stressed extending the Ganapati Samudram tank bund and Pasupula branch canals, besides two others. That apart, it has been decided to complete the construction of a viaduct at Shapur in the Khilla Ghanapuram mandal before the next rainy season to provide irrigation water till Addakula.

He also asked the officials to complete the pending works on the Buddharam canal and call for tenders and take up repair works needed after the switching of the operations of the KLIP pumps. Further, he asked the officials to take steps to bring the existing tanks under the canal system.

MP Ramulu, MLAs G Balraju, A Venkateswar Reddy, Jaipal Yadav and B Harshavardhan Reddy, MLCs K Damodar Reddy, Kasireddy Narayana Reddy and irrigation officials attended the meeting.