VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's announcement that water will be released to the Krishna delta for kharif on June 10 has triggered a race against time to complete repair works to irrigation canals.

Every Irrigation Advisory Board (IAB) meeting is a witness to a tug-of-war between elected representatives and irrigation officials on the issue of time required to complete the works and their poor quality.

A frequent complaint by MLAs at the board meeting is that irrigation officials always delay commencement of repair works and end up doing a shoddy job. Constructed structures and other repair works are of inferior quality.

Red tape

Officials refute the charges and attribute the delay to long wait for grant of administrative sanctions and red tape involved in the release of funds.

Vijayawada Irrigation Circle Superintending Engineer J. Rajendra Prasad has been advocating early closure of canals to facilitate their proper drying for taking up maintenance and repair.

The MLAs, however, strongly detest the quality of works, besides opposing the early closure of canals. Vetoing the proposal of the department to close the canals on April 15, the MLAs insisted that the canals be kept open till April 25 for filling all drinking water tanks and providing water to tail-end areas where transplantation is delayed.

To compensate for the time lost, the MLAs agreed for re-opening the canals on June 25. Based on this, irrigation officials prepared a schedule for completion of works in the two-month window period.

But the announcement made by the Chief Minister at Mylavaram recently came as a shock to the officials.

Tenders finalised

The canal bed has not even dried up at some places, leaving water in long stretches. The water will have to be physically pumped out for speedy drying up of the bed. Tenders for 75 packages costing Rs. 2.4 crores have been finalised.

The remaining works will cost less than Rs. 1 lakh each and will be executed by Water Users' Associations (WUAs) and Distributary Committees (DCs).

"We have less then a month to complete the works and the clock is ticking," says Mr. Prasad.

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