IN CHARGE: Minister Kanna Laxminarayana at the District Review Committee meeting in Nalgonda on Thursday. — PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

NALGONDA: The District Review Committee (DRC) has asked the State Government to ensure 200 tmcft of Krishna floodwaters for Nalgonda district.

The DRC meeting held at the Collectorate here on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution to this effect after a prolonged discussion between the in-charge Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana and Miryalaguda MLA Julakanti Ranga Reddy of the CPI (M)

The Minister dismissed the CPI (M) MLA's plea to introduce a resolution asking the Government to stop the Pothireddypadu project works. "Anyway we are going to clarify all your doubts on the issue in the forthcoming Assembly session. Why do you insist for a resolution here," Mr. Lakshminarayana asked.

Though Palla Venkat Reddy of the CPI and Nomula Narasimhaiah of the CPI (M) supported Mr. Ranga Reddy, the Minister didn't yield to the demand.

Intervening in the discussion, TRS legislator K. Nagesh suggested that a resolution demanding 200 tmcft of floodwater for the district should be passed instead. The Minister agreed and accordingly the meeting passed the resolution.

Reacting to Mr. Narasimhaiah's demand, the Minister announced that all the tanks in the district would be filled by March to meet the drinking water demand during the summer.

Tunnel works

Superintending Engineer of the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project B.V.V.Kumar said that a US- based firm was in the process of manufacturing the tunnel boring machine (TBM) exclusively for the SLBC tunnel project. "We ordered for two machines and the manufacturing of the first machine is in the final stages," Mr. Kumar said adding that the drilling would be launched by the end of the May.

Allaying apprehensions over the delay in grounding works, the official said that the Government had already paid Rs.196 crores to the company and the Chief Engineer and the Irrigation Secretary had inspected the progress of the work in US recently.

The meeting also witnessed a wordy duel between the Minister and TDP MLA Uma Madhava Reddy over Bunadigani canal works.

Earlier, BJP activists led by the district president Goli Madhusudan Reddy and secretary Veerelli Chandrasekhar, created a ruckus at the Collectorate when they met the Minister to hand over a memorandum against the Pothireddypadu project. As they picked up an argument with the Minister over Indiramma villages, the police evicted them out of the Collectorate. The BJP activists staged a dharna.

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