Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao laid the foundation stone for Rs 35,000 Crore Palamuru-Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Project at Karvena in Bhoothpur mandal of Mahabubnagar district on Thursday.
This is the first major irrigation project taken up after formation of Telangana State in June last year. It is expected to irrigate about 10 lakh acres in Mahabubnagar, Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda districts besides providing about 20 TMC of water for drinking and industrial needs in and around Hyderabad. It is planned to lift 90 TMC ft water from the foreshore of Srisailam Reservoir during flood days at the rate of 1.5 TMC ft every day.
Speaking after laying the foundation, the Chief Minister assured that the project would be completed within four years on war-footing basis. He said that the project would be the biggest in entire South India. He assured that the State Government would ensure proper rehabilitation of the people affected due to the project. He said the displaced families would be given alternate land, government job to one member of each affected family and a double-bedroom flat. He said people in living in three thandas would be displaced with the Karivena reservoir.
The Chief Minister assured to visit the project site once in every 15 days to review the progress of works. Later, he undertook an aerial survey of the project site and affected areas.
State Ministers T Harish Rao, Jupally Krishna Rao, Lakshma Reddy, Mahender Reddy, State Planning Board Vice-Chairman Niranjan Reddy, MPs Jithender Reddy and Balka Suman, legislators Venkateshwar Reddy, Srinivas Goud, Anjaiah Yadava, Janardhan Reddy, G Balraj, Krishna Reddy, Ram Mohan Reddy and Ramchander Reddy, District Collector Sri Devi, ZP Chairman Bhaskar and other senior officials were also present. (INN)