Andhra comes up with another irrigation project

GOVT STRUGGLING TO MEET POLAVARAM PROJECT DEADLINES

- Srinivasa Rao Apparasu

HYDERABAD: As the Andhra Pradesh government is struggling to meet the deadlines for the completion of Polavaram irrigation project on river Godavari with 100% financial assistance from the Centre, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has come out with yet another ambitious irrigation scheme aimed at taking Godavari waters to the Krishna basin to provide irrigation to the parched lands of Rayalaseema.

Naidu unveiled the project at a meeting in the state secretariat in Amaravati on December 30. Estimated at ₹80,112 crore, the project aims at providing drinking water to 8 million people and irrigate 7.5 lakh acres in Kurnool and YSR districts in the backward Rayalaseema region, besides parts of Nellore and Prakasam in the south-coastal Andhra.

The CM named this interlinking Godavari-Krishna rivers project as "Telugu Talliki Jala Harathi" (Water tribute to Mother Telugu) and said it would be a game changer for Andhra Pradesh. "The Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be finalised within three months and tenders will be called shortly after that. Discussions with Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman have already been initiated," an official statement from the CMO said, quoting Naidu.