TS puts in more efforts to get national status for Palamuru

Hyderabad: The state government has begun an exercise to get the national project status to the prestigious Palamuru Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS). The government has sent the project DPR (Detailed Project Report) to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry and is waiting for the Centre’s approval. Sources said the Centre may give its nod in a week or 10 days.

Soon after the approval from the ministry, the state will seek funds under AIBP (Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme) and then move further. State Irrigation Secretary Rahul Bojja met the top officials of the Jal Shakti Ministry recently and appraised them of the status of the Palamuru project. The official was also in constant touch with the Central authorities to get funds at the earliest.

Ever since Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met with Prime minister Narendra Modi and sought PM’s active intervention to accord the national project status to the Palamuru lift scheme, the officials said that the state Irrigation department paid special focus on the project.

The works were moving at snail’s pace due to some legal hurdles as the Centre permitted the government to take up only drinking water related project works. Now, the government is making all-out efforts to move fast to complete major works related to the irrigation facility which is being provided in the old Ranga Reddy, Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts. Officials said the government has prepared an error-free DPR so that there would be no delay in getting the approval from the Centre. The Chief Minister wanted to complete the lift scheme in a time-bound manner as the project already got many approvals which are required to get Central funds.

The only challenge was to address the legal issues, sources said, adding that the government was also planning to name the Palamuru project after senior Congress leader Jaipal Reddy who is a close relative of the Chief Minister and also hailed from Palamuru district.

The government would also earmark allocations for the lift scheme in the budget outlay 2024-2025 and take some important decisions in the implementation of the project before getting national project status.