Hyderabad: The Pranahitha-Chevella irrigation project, once touted as the lifeline of Telangana and conceived by the YSR government to irrigate 16.40 lakh acres, has been scrapped. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao made an announcement to this effect in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
Mr Rao also gave clear indications that the height of Tammidihatti barrage for taking up Kaleshwaram would be 148 metres and not 152 metres. The CM said that the project was no more and the TS government would take up the Kaleshwaram project in its place by redesigning the Pranahitha project, which has several engineering deficiencies.
He also made it clear that hereafter, all irrigation projects in TS would be named after deities so that they have the Almighty’s blessings. Mr Rao also termed the Pranahitha project as a ‘conspiracy’ hatched by Seemandhra rulers to deny Telangana its justifiable share of water from Godavari.
“The Pranahitha project was conceived in such a manner that it would never see light of the day. It was designed to trigger inter-state dispute with Maharashtra and be stuck in environmental clearances. It was planned along eco-zones and wildlife sanctuaries, for which it would have never got the Centre’s approvals,” the CM said.
He said that despite this, the previous Congress governments, under the Jalayagnam scheme, spent over Rs 8,000 crore to dig canals without beginning headworks at Tammidihatti barrage.
“Its capacity was fixed at 16.3 tmc ft and they fooled us by saying that with that quantity, 16.40 lakh acres could be irrigated. We have now decided to redesign this as Kaleshwaram project with a capacity of 200 tmc ft which would serve both irrigation and drinking water needs in state besides restoring Nizamsagar and Sriramsagar projects to their past glory,” Mr Rao said during his PowerPoint presentation in the Assembly.
He said the new Kaleshwaram project was conceived to lift water from Godavari near Medigadda to utilise allocated water by constructing three new barrages on Godavari, construction of 16 reservoirs and increasing the storage capacity to irrigate land even during deficit rainfall seasons. Mr Rao added the government will achieve its target of irrigating one crore acres in the state, come what may.
