Incomplete work, land issues block Rs 900-cr project, farmers demand Rs 100 crore more
Adilabad: The Korata-Chanaka barrage on the Penganga River in Adilabad district, built at an estimated cost of Rs 900 crore, has become a costly monument to unfinished work, failing to store any floodwater. Despite heavy inflows from upstream Maharashtra during the monsoon, floodwaters simply pass through unimpeded, inundating hundreds of acres along the riverbank each year.
Several key components remain incomplete, and downstream discharge continues unchecked. Residents like Milind Nagpure of Sangdi village in Bela mandal are now urging the state government to release an additional Rs 100 crore to finish the barrage and activate its storage capacity. Adilabad MLA Payal Shankar has formally requested that the in-charge minister, Jupally Krishna Rao, secure these funds without delay.
Once fully operational, the barrage’s 0.85 TMC ft capacity will irrigate 50,000 acres, which include 13,000 acres in Boath and 37,000 acres in the Adilabad Assembly constituency, apart from mitigating floods in Bela and Jainad mandals. However, land acquisition for nearly 1,900 acres, 900 acres for canals and distributaries and 1,000 acres for the reservoir, remains stalled. Oustees, including 90 farmers dispossessed by the Pippalkoti reservoir, are demanding compensation of Rs 20 lakh per acre under the Land Acquisition Act, 2017, further straining the project’s budget.
Local farmers and officials alike warn that without prompt funding and resolution of land compensation, the barrage will continue to fall short of its flood-control and irrigation promises.
