CM Rao wants speedy completion of Kaleshwaram project after Centre gives nod

Hyderabad : Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao expressed happiness after the Kaleshwaram project received nod from the Centre and exhorted officials to fast track the irrigation scheme works.

"CM Rao wanted the project should be completed on a fast track to remove the suffering that was endured for decades for want of water," said a chief minister's office statement.

According to the statement, a few changes have been made in the project to upscale the intake capacity to of the irrigation scheme.

"We have redesigned the projects to draw more water from the places where the more availability of water and to utilise at the optimal levels our share of water in the rivers. Of these, Kaleswaram is an important project. Through this project in the old seven districts, 70 percent water for irrigation and drinking water will be supplied," CM Rao said at a meeting with officials in Pragati Bhavan.

Describing the clearance as great news, CM Rao asked the officials to complete the project on time as farmers in the state are in urgent need of water.

"Officials, engineers, representatives of the working agencies are working day and night to complete the project. From the government side we are making attempts to get the technical clearances from time to time. Forest department officials have worked hard to get forest and environmental clearances. But farmers from the Telangana are desperate to get water. Hence don't take such a long time," said CM Rao.

The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) on the irrigation projects met in New Delhi on December 5 and held in-depth discussions on the Kaleshwaram irrigation scheme being taken up by the state government.

"It expressed satisfaction over the project report prepared by the Telangana government. It has cleared that there is no danger to the environment due to this project. It also made it clear that it has no objections to the construction of Barrages; pump houses, canals as part of the project," the statement said.

The state government has acquired 3,100 hectares of the forest land and showed an alternative land elsewhere. The government also paid the money for growing the forest in the alternative land.

"To this, the forest department gave permissions to the first and second phases. Now by getting the environmental clearances, all the technical hurdles for the Kaleswaram Project have been cleared," the statement added.

At an estimated cost of Rs 80,500 crore, the KLIP is the costliest irrigation project taken up by a state. Once completed, it will irrigate 7,38,851 hectares in the erstwhile districts of Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Warangal, Medak, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy.

The KLIP is a reworked version of 'Pranahitha-Chevella Lift Irrigation Scheme', which was taken up by the Congress government of united Andhra Pradesh in 2007. Now, the project has a storage capacity of 148 tmc ft as opposed to 16 tmc ft in the original plan.