KCR completed irrigation projects ignored by past governments: Harish Rao

Hyderabad: Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Monday criticised the previous governments for causing migration, suicides and hunger deaths due to their negligence. He was replying to a query in the Council by Palla Rajeshwar Reddy (TRS) whether check dams increased cultivation of land and groundwater level in the State.

To address the irrigation problem the CM is determined to get ample share of water from the Godavari and the Krishna rivers, the minister claimed. The government has completed in a record time the Kaleshwaram project in just three years. "This was history and KCR gets credit for speedy completion of the project. We have completed the Mallanna Sagar project with 58 tmcft capacity in the region", he said.

"The CM has taken three-pronged steps to build big multipurpose, medium and minor irrigation works in the State. Lakes were revived and water level reached a new high with the steps taken by the government, Rao asserted. In the Godavari 968 tmcft, and the Krishna 268 tmcft were allocated temporarily to the State. The groundwater level increased with the lake revival programme under the Mission Kakatiya. "Shepherds who used to visit neighbouring districts in Mahbubnagar are now getting abundant water in their lakes and water bodies", he said. The groundwater table increased to 3.09 ft in the State and 6.30 ft in Sircilla district, according to a recent report. "The CM gave powers to officials to address feeder channels. Using the NRGES scheme to remove silt from canals, about 3.5 lakh acres being irrigated through check dams.

Preventive measures afoot to tackle dengue

Minister T Harish Rao told the Assembly that the government was taking all preventive measures to tackle dengue in the State.

Rao said there was a spike in dengue cases in the State compared to last year. Quoting official data, he said, so far 4,694 cases have been registered. The government was closely monitoring the situation by taking all preventive measures by coordinating with the GHMC.

When MIM Legislature Party Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi explained that dengue patients were flooding Niloufer and Fever Hospitals and sought the minster to visit to see their plight, Rao said 'I am instructing officials of the Health department to visit the hospitals and do the needful.

When Akbar said private hospitals were not treating dengue patients due to pending bills from the government, the minister responded that dengue was being treated under Arogyasri in private hospitals. The pending bills of Rs 160 crore will be released soon.