Record Paddy Crop Without Kaleshwaram Water: Uttam

Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, accompanied by Minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu, Ponnam Prabhakar, district collectors from four districts, MLAs, MLCs, and officials from various departments, chaired a review meeting on Thursday at the Collectorate conference hall in Karimnagar. The meeting focused on pending irrigation projects, paddy procurement, the Indiramma Indlu housing scheme, and the Bhu Bharati land survey initiative.

Speaking at the meeting, the minister announced that local MLAs and MPs will be actively involved in planning the release of water from the Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) for the upcoming kharif season. He noted that the SRSP’s water storage capacity has declined significantly due to silt accumulation. To address this, the government intends to restore the reservoir’s original capacity through modern desiltation techniques in line with the state’s policy. Similar desilting efforts will also be undertaken at the Kadem project and other reservoirs using advanced methods.

During the Rabi season, Telangana cultivated paddy across more than 60 lakh acres and produced 130 lakh metric tonnes, through the judicious use of water. Unlike the previous BRS government, the Congress government bought 67 lakh metric tons of paddy by May 28 and paid Rs 13,000 crore to farmers.

The government is ready to accept proposals from rice mills regarding converting fine varieties of paddy of rabi crop into boiled rice. Discussions on the implementation of this plan will be held with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.

The previous BRS government completely neglected the irrigation department and weakened it, whereas the Congress government reformed the department after coming to power. The government is committed to resolve issues pertaining to the Singareni lands and within a week, it is going to start Bandla Wagu lift irrigation project along with completing the works of the Palakurthy Lift Irrigation project, Rolla wagu, Narayanapuram Reservoir, Kondagattu Lift Irrigation Scheme and Kalokota Suramma project on a war footing.

The government is committed to procure wet paddy and the district collectors must keep special focus on procurement of paddy for another week by making arrangements of transportation of paddy. If there is any shortage of lorries, then they must arrange tractors to transport paddy immediately to mills without any delay, Uttam Kumar Reddy ordered.

The minister urged the BRS leaders to cooperate with the Judicial Commission on the Medigadda project and assured that the actions will be taken as per the report that will be submitted by the Judicial Commission to the government.

IT minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu said that the state government will strictly follow as per the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) report regarding the Kaleshwaram project irregularities.

The farmers need not to worry, as the government is ready to purchase the wet paddy at the Minimum Support Price. The government also released Rs 51 crore as a compensation at Rs 10,000 per acre for farmers who suffered crop losses due to unseasonal rains, he assured.

Sridhar Babu said all kinds of measures were taken under the Bhu Bharati Act so that no harm is caused to real landowners. People need not panic, as land titles that were previously misnamed will soon be corrected and restored in the names of the rightful owners.

As every person has an Aadhaar card, land owners will now have a Bhudar Card which include details of survey number, ownership, extent of land and boundaries, he added.