Development of irrigation sector in TS a role model for country

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has become a role model for the country in the development of irrigation sector on a fast pace. The bold steps and policy decisions taken by the State government has improved the entire irrigation sector.

Designing the irrigation schemes and complete them within the stipulated time is the hallmark of the government. According to the Telangana State Statistics 2022 report, the irrigated area was only 62.48 lakh acres in 2014. Today, it has doubled to 1.35 crore acres . 69.02 lakh acres of land was covered under 24 major irrigation projects in the state.

Kalvakurti, Nettampadu, Koyal Sagar, Ellampalli, Mid Maneru, Devada, etc projects have been completed. As a result, about 16 lakh acres are being irrigated. The works of Dindi, Gattu Ottipithala, Chanaka-Korataporata and other projects are going on. It modernised the canals of old projects like Nagarjuna Sagar, Nizam Sagar, Sriram Sagar. The Kaleshwaram lift project was the largest irrigation lift project in the world. Lakhs of acres are being irrigated through Annapurna, Ranganayakasagar and Kondapochammasagar reservoirs which are part of this project.

The construction of the largest reservoir Mallannasagar, was a wonder in the history of irrigation. With the construction of Kaleswaram, 100 tmc water was continuously stored in Godavari. The ayacut area has increased by 119 per cent. Palamuru – Rangareddy Project has been taken up with the objective of pumping water from the foreshore of Srisailam Reservoir at Kolhapur mandal of Nagar Kurnool district in five stages through lifts.

This project has been designed to irrigate 12.30 lakh acres of land in Nagar Kurnool, Mahabub Nagar, Vikarabad, Narayanapet, Rangareddy and Nalgonda in the upper region. This project is a long time dream of the people of the drought affected districts.

Sitarama Uplift Project: The government has taken up this project with the aim of diverting Godavari water and providing irrigation to 6.74 lakh acres in Bhadradri – Kothagudem, Khammam and Mahabubabad districts. The construction work of the project is going on at a fast pace.

The production of paddy has increased from 68 lakh metric tonnes in 2014 to 2.49 crore metric tonnes by 2022. Ground water has increased significantly across Telangana and agricultural cultivation also doubled. Telangana has become second in rice production in the country due to the increase in cultivated area. After the formation of Telangana government, the water tax arrears which the farmers had to pay before the formation of Telangana state was also cancelled.

Apart from this, water tax has been abolished permanently and irrigation water has been provided free of cost to the farmers.