Telangana government embarks on its project to restore 45,000 irrigation tanks
Farmers fear insistence on emptying tanks by Government officials
Hyderabad: Some officials are insisting that villages empty their brimming tanks as the Telangana government embarks on its project to restore 45,000 irrigation tanks in five years. About 9,000 tanks will be restored every year, beginning in December.
Farmers who already lost kharif crops due to the poor monsoon this year in Nalgonda, Khammam and Adilabad are now being asked by officials to empty their tanks, which were filled up by the recent rains.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday directed officials to begin work on the tanks from the third week of December and complete it by May-end. He named the project “Mission Kakatiya”, in tribute to the Kakatiya rulers who built ‘chain tanks’ to meet irrigation needs.
However, some officials are insisting that sarpanches and farmers empty the tanks so that tenders can be called by the third week of this month.
“Such irresponsible attitude of officials will not be tolerated. The government will issue guidelines over which tanks they need to take up for restoration. Only tanks with low levels should be identified for restoration work in December. Full tanks should be taken up between March and May,” said R.Vidyasagar Rao, irrigation adviser to the Telangana government.
Irrigation minister T. Harish Rao said, “Officials should conduct a comprehensive survey on each and every tank to ascertain whether the restoration works could be done now or should be taken up later. No decisions should be taken unilaterally in this regard like emptying of tanks.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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