Pattiseema Helped Generate Rs 50,000 Crore In Wealth, Says Minister
He described it as an engineering achievement, saying the investment had helped provide irrigation water to farmers in the Krishna delta and support crop cultivation.
Vijayawada:Water resources minister Nimmala Ramanaidu said the Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme had helped divert nearly 500 tmc ft of Godavari water to the Krishna delta since its launch in 2015, contributing to the creation of wealth estimated at Rs 50,000 crore.
Speaking to the media at the Secretariat on Saturday, he said the state government had spent nearly Rs ,600 crore on the scheme. He described it as an engineering achievement, saying the investment had helped provide irrigation water to farmers in the Krishna delta and support crop cultivation.
Referring to the prevailing Super El Nino conditions and concerns over rainfall, Ramanaidu said nearly 57 tmc ft of Godavari water had been diverted to the Krishna delta to protect crops across seven lakh acres and meet the drinking water needs of nearly 30 lakh people.
He said the availability of Godavari water for the Krishna delta had reduced the need to draw water from the Srisailam reservoir for the delta, allowing Krishna water to be used to meet requirements in Rayalaseema.
Ramanaidu criticised YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy over his earlier remarks on the utility of the Pattiseema scheme when he was in the Opposition.
The minister credited Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu with executing the scheme to divert Godavari water to the Krishna delta before the completion of the Polavaram irrigation project, instead of allowing the water to flow into the sea.
