Telangana Cabinet ministers grill officials on lapses in execution of Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Project

He additionally wanted to know if any new ayacut had been created after increasing the estimates, an official press release said.

The officials allegedly mumbled while providing the rationale in constructing canals without first completing the head works. However, Bhatti Vikramarka asked them not to conceal facts but give an honest presentation.

The officials apprised the minister that they were yet to get environment clearance from the Union government for the project, which they said might take another two months.

డిప్యూటీ సీఎం భట్టి విక్రమార్క గారి ఆధ్వర్యంలో రాష్ట్ర సచివాలయం ఆర్థిక శాఖ కార్యాలయంలో ఉమ్మడి ఖమ్మం నల్గొండ జిల్లాల సాగునీటి ప్రాజెక్టుల సమీక్షిస్తున్న ఇరిగేషన్ మంత్రి ఉత్తమ్ కుమార్ రెడ్డి గారు

ఈ సమీక్ష సమావేశానికి హాజరైన శాసనమండలి చైర్మన్ గుత్తా సుఖేందర్ రెడ్డి, మంత్రులు… pic.twitter.com/LrBI9m2RYW

— Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu (@Bhatti_Mallu) December 14, 2023

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Original vs updated design 

He expressed dissatisfaction in the erstwhile BRS government in taking up the Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Scheme, overlooking the fact that water would flow due to gravity from the point of confluence of the Sabari tributary with Godavari.

“The water flows down due to gravity throughout the year at this point. But the previous government had redesigned the project, called it Sita Rama Lift Irrigation, raised estimates, and misused the people’s money,” he charged.

The officials felt that had the Indira Sagar project been implemented, as it had been conceived during the erstwhile Congress government in united Andhra Pradesh, the district would have gotten enough water for the parched fields by now.

Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the BRS government had taken up the Sita Rama Lift Irrigation project after redesigning earlier projects and spent thousands of crores of rupees at a time when the original project would have been in place by now by spending just a few hundreds of cores of rupees.

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Irrigation projects to be categorised

He asked the officials to divide the ongoing irrigation projects in the state into four categories, depending on how much time it would take for their completion. They should be grouped under the category of six months, one year, 18 months, and 24 months.

The officials should prepare estimates for them, he said additionally. All the works that had been cleared by the previous government on the eve of the recent Assembly elections should be placed on hold, including those for which work orders had been issued, Uttam Reddy said.

Revenue Minister P Srinivasa Reddy took the officials to task when they failed to give him proper answers on the Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Scheme. He asked the officials to explain the works taken up in various phases — from head works to the last canal — and, when they had no answer, he flew into a rage at them.

He demanded to know how an official could function without knowing anything about the department he is heading.