Hyderabad: Delay in completion of 22 prominent irrigation projects taken up from 2004 in the Telangana region of undivided Andhra Pradesh has led to cost escalation of Rs 12,893.26 crore, according to irrigation department sources.
As against the original Rs 25,849.26 crore, the projects now cost Rs 38,742 crore. While the cost overrun is Rs 12,893 crore, the cumulative expenditure on these projects as on March 31, 2015, was Rs 31,057 crore, the officials said.
The erstwhile AP State Industrial Development Corporation had taken up 59 minor irrigation projects at a cost of Rs 348 crore. Delays resulted in the costs shooting up by Rs 163 crore to Rs 511 crore. The cumulative expenditure on the projects is Rs 284 crore.
“All these projects were taken up in undivided Andhra Pradesh. They are being prioritised by the government. Some are redesigned and steps are being taken up to complete them at the earliest,” a senior official said.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has blamed the previous Telugu Desam and Congress governments for the neglect of the irrigation sector, depriving Telangana of its share of water from the Godavari and the Krishna. He has accused the previous governments of deliberately selecting project sites in such a manner that they got tied up in environmental or inter-state disputes.
