CM KCR emphasises the need for effective management of the irrigation sector

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday rechristened it as the Water Resources Department, opening the gates for decentralisation and reorganisation of the entire department in tandem with the State government’s priorities. The reforms were necessitated with the increasing responsibilities and priorities of the irrigation sector with Telangana developing into a major agrarian State.

In an extensive meeting at Pragathi Bhavan here on Monday, the Chief Minister emphasised the need for effective management of the irrigation sector to achieve the goal of irrigating 1.25 crore acres in the State. He expressed his preparedness to sanction even 1,000 posts immediately to strengthen the department and bring in reforms. He discussed in detail the draft proposals submitted by the officials concerned for complete overhaul of the existing Irrigation Department.

The officials were instructed to prepare an action plan to develop an effective system for water resources management including supply of 4 TMC from Godavari River and 3 TMC from Krishna River every day to irrigate 1.25 lakh crore areas. Besides suggesting some changes, the Chief Minister also wanted them to conduct another workshop before implementing the reforms. 

“The State government is constructing several major irrigation projects at great expense and efforts. Hence, the Water Reosurces Department should be fully prepared to supply irrigation water to 1.25 lakh crore acres in the State,” he said.

Rao emphasised the need for bringing all sections of the Water Resources Department under a single umbrella. The entire State will be divided into different regional areas, with each regional centre headed by a Chief Engineer who will be responsible for management of water resources including irrigation projects, reservoirs, canals, ponds, irrigation tanks, lift irrigation schemes and checkdams in that regional area. Similarly, the



jurisdictions of Executive Engineers and Deputy Engineers will also be fixed.

The Chief Minister wanted the officials to prepare details of the exact number of irrigation tanks under each regional centre. He stated that all these tanks should be filled on a priority basis, with water drawn from major irrigation projects. He also asked the officials to prepare actual estimates on the manpower requirement from the Engineer-in-Chief (E-in-C) level to Lashker level for revamp and decentralisation of the department. In addition to the posts of E-in-Cs in the catagories of general, administration and operations, he suggested that the officials identify the exact number of E-in-C posts required for effective management.

Further, the Chief Minister instructed the authorities concerned to prepare operation and maintenance manuals for all the projects, reservoirs, tanks and other water bodies including annual expenditure for them. He wanted the entire administration of Water Resources Department to function in strict adherence to the manuals. 

While the management of all the pump houses is proposed to be entrusted to the Electricity Department, the officials were directed to identify works which can be taken up under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the irrigation sector and prepare plans accordingly. He also suggested construction of guest houses at the project reservoirs and also camp offices for all Chief Engineers in their respective jurisdictions.

Health Minister Eetala Rajender, Excise Minister V Srinivas Goud, Telangana State Planning Board vice-chairman B Vinod Kumar, Principal Secretary for Irrigation Rajat Kumar, CMO Secretary Smitha Sabharwal, Engineers-in-Chief Muralidhar Rao, Nagender Rao, Anil Kumar, Venkateshwarlu and Hareram, CMO Officer on Special Duty Sridhar Deshpande and other officials were present.