KCR LAYS STONE FOR KALESHWARAM PROJECT

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said the State will make use of 1300 tmcft of waters as per GOs issued before bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh. Kaleshwaram will be a boon for North Telangana districts and 2.50 lakh acres in Adilabad district will be irrigated by drawing waters to Pranahitha from Tummidihatti and building Chanaka-Korata barrages.

In a reply to Andhra Pradesh Government and Opposition parties of two Telugu States for coming in the way of the projects, KCR lashed out at the Congress for adopting multiple standards and making “mindless” comments. He said no force on the earth can stop the Telangana Government from using its rightful share of irrigation waters by completing the projects to make the State a green belt.

Declaring to make Kaleshwaram into a tourist spot and sanctioning Rs 25 crore for temple development, KCR said the Maharashtra government had agreed to the project and he will talk to his counterpart Devendra Fadnavis to sign the deal to speed up the works. Through lift scheme, it was planned to see that Ellampally receives waters in two years and then Medak and Hyderabad for drinking purposes. The Chief Minister took serious



exception to the Opposition’s “mindless” talk on the Telangana irrigation projects, which were ignored by previous regimes. “At least now the Opposition should keep quiet and support completion of the projects”, he advised. Medigadda project will pave way for impounding water in a total stretch of 54 km to get Nizam Sagar ample waters and help irrigate two crops in Karimnagar. The farmers can draw waters from pump houses to be completed in two weeks while barrage works are on.

Accompanied by his wife Shobha, Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari, ministers Eatala Rajender, Tanneer  Harish Rao, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, A Indrakaran Reddy, Speaker S Madhusudanachary, Deputy Speaker Padma Devender Reddy, MP and TRS secretary-general K Keshav Rao, E Ravinder Reddy, TSRTC Chairman Somarapu Satyanarayana, Errabelli Dayakar Rao and others, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao performed bhumi puja for pump house at Kannepally village before laying foundation stone for Medigadda barrage at Ambatipally village.

On completion, the project would provide irrigation waters to the farmers for 365 days. The project will lift 160 thousand million cubic (tmc) feet of water from Godavari. The Medigadda barrage at a height of 100 metres can store 16 tmc ft of water. Two more barrages will also be built at Annaram and Sundilla, to store 6.22 tmc ft and 2.16 tmc ft of water respectively. The water will then be lifted to various existing projects and this will require 4,500 megawatt power. In addition to bringing 18.5 lakh acres of land under irrigation, the project will also stabilize 11.8 lakh acre existing irrigated land. Medak will be biggest beneficiary as 7.30 lakh acres will be irrigated in the district. It will also benefit Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Nalgonda, Adilabad, Warangal and Ranga Reddy districts.