Harish orders completion of four Palamur projects by June next; warns against delay

Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao today held a special meeting with civil contractors, Irrigation officials and Land Acquisition officials of Revenue department on the progress of four major Irrigation projects – Bheema, Kalwakurthi, Nettempad and Koilsagar — in Mahbubnagar district. The meeting was held in TSIDC to discuss GO No. 146 released recently on the price escalation of irrigation projects.

The meeting discussed about the problems being faced by the civil contractors at the ground level and also reviewed the package on every project contract. The minister explained to all the concerned about the need to complete all the pending projects by June next year. He also explained that the Bheema project was conceived to irrigate 2.03 lakh acres, Kalwakurthi 3.04 lakh acres, Nettempad two lakh acres and Koilsagar 60,000 acres. The minister told the contractors that all works on these four pending projects should be completed by March 2016 under any circumstances.

Stating that the government would extend all possible assistance for completion of these projects, Harish Rao warned the contractors and the engineers concerned of severe consequences if there was any negligence and delay on their part. The meeting also decided to initiate measures as per law against those who failed to rise to the occasion and complete the assigned task. The meeting also discussed about the land acquisition process for the pending works of these four Palamur projects and directed the Special Collector (Land Acquisition) to acquire the needed lands as per the GO No. 123.

Harish Rao also said such meetings with all concerned to review the progress of the works on these four projects would be held every fortnight. The meeting also directed the district Collector to use the sand from the identified lands in 22 Survey Numbers for construction of these projects.

Ministers from Mahbubnagar district Cherlakola Lakshma Reddy, Jupally Krishna Rao, MP Jithendar Reddy, Principal Secretary, Irrigation S K Joshi, C. Muralidhar Rao, district Collector T K Sridevi, TSMDC managing director Ilambarthi and others were present at the meeting. (NSS)