Land acquisition hurdles hamper irrigation projects in Telangana: Uttam

Hyderabad: Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Thursday said land acquisition was proving costly and causing delays in the execution of irrigation projects in State. He urged MLAs to help in speeding up land acquisition in their respective constituencies.

The Minister made the comments after several requests from both treasury benches and Opposition members during the question hour in the Assembly. Interest of the members in the question can be gauged as this was the first question, and it went on for 45 minutes.

Replying to a question on Pillaipally and Dharmareddy canal works in Nakrekal, Reddy said the government accorded administrative approval for Rs 123.98 crore to the balance work estimate of ‘Restoration of Dharmareddypally canal in Yadadri Bhongir and Nalgonda districts.’ The government also accorded administrative approval for Rs 86.22 crore to the balance work estimate of the ‘Restoration of Pillaipally Canal in the two districts. The two works would be completed within two years.

The Station Ghanpur project was sanctioned with Rs 160 crore; the tenders would be called soon. He also assured to take the ChanakaKorata project in Adilabad, stating that it was in list A of the priorities for the government. Replying to supplementaries, Reddy said the government was committed to completing the SLBC Tunnel works within two years as the Cabinet gave approval for Rs 4,650 crore.

He said the government has fixed three priorities for taking up projects to see whether there is availability of water, land acquisition should also be taken up, and the cost-benefit ratio should be good. He said the government was taking up a special drive for maintenance of the projects.