Go for Underground pipeline system for projects, CM advises officials

Amaravati: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has suggested Water Resource Department officials to work on to ensure that future irrigation projects can be constructed by using underground pipelines to solve the problem of land acquisition and to reduce expenditure. 

Chief Minister reviewed the progress of Polavaram Irrigation Project and other 20 ongoing projects at Secretariat on Monday. He said construction of underground pipeline would make easy the construction of projects and save the time as there is no need to take any permission from others to lay pipelines.  

Officials reported to the Chief Minister that Polavaram Irrigation Project has attained an overall progress of 53% which includes the head works, the Right Main Canal and the Left Main Canal.  

They have pointed out that 70% of the excavation for the spillway and spill channel is completed and 32.94% of the concreting for the spillway and the  stillingbasin is completed, accounting for 5.4 lakh cubic metres out of 16.39 lakh cubic metres. 

This week, 0.24 lakh cubic metre of earthwork was excavated, and 11,000 cubic metres of concrete was laid for the spillway and stilling basin. Besides, 7.6 metres of the diaphragm wall was also completed this week. Overall, 39% of the head works have been completed.

The total expenditure incurred up to January 2018 is Rs 13,053.91 crores. The Chief Minister told the contractors appointed for the Left Main Canalthat  they must present a weekly progress report. “Just like other elements of the project like the spill channel and spillway, each contractor must keep weekly targets and work accordingly,” he said. 

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has also declared more than 20 ongoing irrigation projects as priority projects. “These projects must be completed faster, so that we canprovide water across the state”, he said.  

He further instructed officials to keep a time-bound programme, and release the tenders as soon as possible. Besides the 5 projects (Gorukallu Reservoir, Owk Tunnel, Pulikanuma Lift Irrigation Scheme, Pedapalem LI Scheme and Chinasana LI Scheme), most projects would  be readied  for inauguration on March 31, 2018.

The Chief Minister enquired about the detailed status reports from the chief engineers of all the priority projects, and instructed them to maintain a fast and consistent pace of progress. Minister for Water Resources D Umamaheswara Rao, Engineer-in-chief M Venkateswara Rao and others participated in the meeting.