Godavari waters for 1.2 L acres by Aug 15: Bhatti

Kothagudem : Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu on Thursday announced that by August 15, the State government would provide Godavari water to 1.2 lakh acres by completing Enkoor Link Canal.

Accompanied by Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao, he reviewed the photo exhibition organised at the view point of Sitarama project head regulator at Ammagaripalli of Bhadradri-Kothagudem district in Aswapuram Mandal.

They went to Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project Pump House-1 and inspected the power supply after inspecting the house works. After that they reached Pump House-3 and learnt of the progress of the works so far, including collection canals work, land acquisition, requirement of funds for the completion of the project, and any problems thereof.

Later, Bhatti Vikramarka alleged that the Rajiv and Indira Sagar projects which were to be completed at Rs 2,654 crore were redesigned as Sitarama project. The BRS government inflated the cost estimates to Rs 20,000 crore and misused the public money, he alleged. It spent as much as Rs 8,000 crore, but still could not provide irrigation to even a single acre during the last 10 years, he said.

He said the Congress government was take up high-level reviews of the pending projects to expedite their completion. He called for a review on how Rs 72,000 crore was allotted to Sitarama project, to complete the 9-year-old Enkoor link canal and link Sitarama project to NSPL canal.

He said that after his request made to the Election Code, Minister for Irrigation Uttam Kumar Reddy, funds were given for the power supply required for the pump trial run. He said that the processing of the pump trial run will continue.

Encore Link Canal would be renamed as Rajiv Canal. The works of Sitarama Lift Irrigation Pump Houses 1, 2, 3 Distribution Package would also commence soon, he added.