Telangana State to pump 10k cr into projects
Telangana | Written by : Suryaa Desk
Hyderabad: The State government on Wednesday issued administrative sanction of Rs 10,000 crore for Mallannasagar and four other reservoirs under Kaleswaram Project. According to the GOs, the government has sanctioned Rs 7,249 crore for the construction of Mallannasagar reservoir with 50 TMC ft capacity being taken up in Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s native district Siddipet.
Special Chief Secretary to Irrigation Department SK Joshi said the reservoir was being taken up as package number 12 under Kaleswaram Project. The administrative sanction for the project is subject to the fulfilling conditions stipulated in the project report. The government has conceived the project to provide irrigation and drinking water facility to Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad and Warangal districts.
The Opposition parties raised strong objections over the manner in which the State government sought to acquire land by issuing GO 123 which provides for quick acquisition of lands from land owners for public purpose. They demanded that land be acquired under Land Acquisition Act of 2013 which gives benefits to the landless poor also. The GO 123 did not provide any relief to the helpless labourers, the Opposition parties contended.
The other major reservoir coming up is Baswapur Reservoir with a capacity of 11.39 TMC ft near Baswapur village in Bhongiri mandal in Yadadri-Bhongiri district and has been sanctioned Rs 1,751 crore. Farmers at this project site have been demanding to reduce the reservoir capacity below 10 TMC ft to reduce the submergence of their lands and habitations. The existing storage capacity of the reservoir is below 1 TMC ft only. Nearly 10,000 families would be affected with land acquisition under the project.
The other projects for which the government gave administrative sanction are Gandamalla Reservoir with a capacity of 8.96 TMC ft near Gandamalla village in Turkapally mandal in Yadadri district. Rs 860.25 has been sanctioned for this project. Similarly, Kondapochammasagar with 7 TMC ft capacity would be taken up at Pamulaparthi village in Markook mandal in Siddipet district.
For this, the government accorded Rs 519-70 crore administrative sanction. The fifth reservoir proposed under Kaleswaram, Chandlapur Sagar (previously Imamabad) with 3 TMC ft capacity was also given an approval of Rs 496.50 crore. Officials said the tendering process for the construction of these projects would start at the earliest. However, land acquisition would be done only after getting presidents approval of the amended central land acquisition 2013.