State to be made drought-free: Devineni Umamaheswara Rao.

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh will be made drought-free state by chalking out an action plan as per the aspirations of the Chief Minister to complete all pending irrigation projects on a priority basis in the coming two years, said Minister for Irrigation Devineni Umamaheswara Rao.

All pending projects to be completed in two years , Neeru-Pragathi programme to begin from April 24

After reviewing the status of pending projects and Neeru-Pragathi programme, along with Inter-State chief engineer Ramakrishna Murty and other higher officials of Uttarandhra here on Saturday night, the Minister told reporters that the government has spent Rs 24,000 crore for the development of water sources in the state against the target of Rs 16,000 crore. As a result, the state has registered highest crop yield from one crore acres in the kharif and from 50 lakh acres in rabi season despite 28 per cent deficit rain fall.

He said Vamsadhara Phase-2, 3 and linkage of Nagavali-Vamsadhara and Nagavali-Champavathi besides the Ramatheerthasagar project will be completed on time. Stating that the Polavaram project will be completed before 2019, the Minister said that necessary water supply will be provided to Vizag district to cater to the needs of domestic and industrial sectors by 2018.

Neeru-Pragathi: The government has initiated necessary steps for implementing Neeru-Pragathi programme in the state from April 24 to July 20 to protect the ground table by sensitising farmers and the members of Water Users’ Associations. ‘All water resources including check-dams in the state would be protected, along with revival and desilting of farm tanks, with the help of ISRO using the latest available technology’, the Minister added.