Uttam: Munneru-Palair Link Canal by Jan 2027

Nalgonda: Reaffirming the Congress government’s pro-farmer agenda, irrigation and civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday assured that the Munneru-Palair Link Canal works would be completed by January 2027. He said the project would save ₹120 crore annually in electricity costs for the Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project by shifting from power-intensive pumping to a gravity-flow system.

Addressing a public meeting in Khammam after the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the Munneru-Palair Link Canal at Maddupally in Edulapuram mandal, the minister said the ₹162.54-crore project was a low-cost initiative with high-impact benefits. He described the canal as a gravity-based scheme that would divert surplus floodwaters of the Munneru River, earlier flowing unused into the sea, to the Palair reservoir through a 9.6-km link canal.

Calling it a historic moment for the region, he credited the present administration’s decisive action and contrasted it with what he termed the previous BRS government’s decade-long neglect. He assured that the entire project would be completed within a year and inaugurated in January 2027 by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, and said all works would be accelerated to meet the deadline.

The minister said the link canal would exemplify “maximum results with minimum expenditure” by stabilising irrigation for 1.38 lakh acres of ayacut under the Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) Left Canal downstream of Palair in Khammam district, and 40,000 acres upstream in Suryapet district.

He added that the project would also help generate 2 MW of hydropower at the existing hydel plant downstream of Palair and mitigate flood risks in Khammam, Suryapet and Mahbubabad districts.

The minister further linked the Munneru-Palair Link Canal to the broader acceleration of the Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project, which aims to supply Godavari waters to 6.8 lakh acres in the erstwhile Khammam district.