Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday directed ministers, MLAs, and officials to expedite land acquisition and complete irrigation projects in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district. At a meeting with ministers, MLAs from the district, and top government officials, the CM reviewed the status of various projects, including the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS).
Ministers, MLAs, and officials were instructed to conduct field visits and complete the land acquisition process for PRLIS on a war footing. “Land acquisition for other projects should also be completed expeditiously. The government will release the required funds for land acquisition. All pending bills related to the project will also be cleared,” Revanth assured the elected representatives and officials. Two ministers from the district, Jupally Krishna Rao and Vakiti Srihari, were directed to hold review meetings with the officials concerned regarding irrigation projects in the Palamuru region and to continuously monitor the progress of these projects.
Later, addressing the media conference with Vakiti Srihari, Jupally said BRS leaders had claimed that 90% of the PRLIS works had been completed. He recalled that in 2015, the then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had announced that the project would be completed within two years. Despite allocating Rs 35,000 crore for pumps, motors, and surge pools, only Rs 25,000 crore was actually spent over a period of 10 years. “They even failed to secure the necessary permissions for the main canals and distribution networks,” Jupally alleged.
He said nearly Rs 1 lakh crore may be required to complete PRLIS and blamed the previous BRS government for not carrying out any significant work on the project. Claiming that 160 TMC of water is available at Tummidihatti, he said much of it could be drawn through gravity flow.
Irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Congress government would complete PRLIS and other projects in the Mahabubnagar district. He also said the government wrote to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry to include the Jurala project under the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP). “The projects in the Palamuru region are being treated on par with major priority schemes such as Devadula, SLBC and Sitarama projects. The Congress government is committed to correcting the injustice done to the Palamuru region during the previous BRS government,” he said.
The state government is also taking steps to address severe sedimentation issues that have reduced the Jurala reservoir’s storage capacity to below eight TMC. Proposals have been submitted to the Jal Shakti Ministry seeking assistance under the DRIP. Uttam said desiltation works under DRIP would significantly improve the dam safety, storage capacity, and operational efficiency.
The PRLIS and associated irrigation projects are regarded as flagship initiatives aimed at irrigating nearly 12.3 lakh acres in the drought-prone districts of southern Telangana while also providing drinking water and industrial supply. Uttam informed the meeting that Phase-I of PRLIS envisages drinking water supply to 1,226 villages across six districts — Nagarkurnool, Mahabubnagar, Narayanpet, Vikarabad, Rangareddy and Nalgonda.
