The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Tardy pace of Pulichintala project irks YSR

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Tardy pace of Pulichintala project irks YSR

Staff Reporter

Asks irrigation officials to accelerate progress of work on the balancing reservoir

Pulichintala to be ready within a
year: Chief Minister
YSR lays foundation stone for 10 lift irrigation schemes

PHOTO: T. Vijaya Kumar

WOOING FARMERS: AICC general secretary Veerappa Moily and Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy at the Rythu Chaitanya Sadassu at Madipadu in Guntur district on Thursday. -

MADIPADU (Guntur Dt.): Tardy progress of the Pulichintala project (K.L. Rao Sagar) across the Krishna irked Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on Thursday when he gave a piece of his mind to irrigation officials on ways to accelerate the pace of work on the balancing reservoir.

The balancing reservoir is designed to store 45.77 tmcft of water to stabilise the existing ayacut of 13.08 lakh acres in Krishna and upland mandals of Guntur district.

“When will you complete the work? Why are you not able to achieve the targets in completing the concreting work,” Dr. Reddy asked senior irrigation officials. The Chief Minister, who had earlier undertaken an aerial inspection of the project before touching down to address the Rythu Chaitanya Sadassu here, looked visibly unhappy over the slow pace of work.

Officials’ explanation

Irrigation Secretary Sutirtha Bhattacharya, Engineer-in-Chief D.S.N. Reddy and Superintendent Engineer S. Satyanarayana explained that the construction work had been expedited and efforts were being made to impound 2 tmcft of water by the end of July at the 33 metres level of the dam. They also said that about 700 cubic metres of concreting work was being done daily, against the earlier pace of 300 cubic metres per day.

Later, addressing a largely attended meeting overlooking the project site, the Chief Minister asserted that the Pulichintala project would be completed within a year and the long cherished dream of Krishna delta farmers would be fulfilled. Dr. Reddy later had a community lunch with the farmers.

The Chief Minister, who earlier laid the foundation for 10 lift irrigation schemes, said that the schemes would benefit farmers in the upland mandals of Krosuru, Atchampeta, Amaravathi and Pedakurapadu. The schemes with a total cost of Rs.219 crore were sanctioned due to the insistence of Transport Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, he said.

Transport Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana appealed to Dr. Reddy to sanction a road connecting Madipadu and Sattenapalli, set up a junior college at Atchampet and include displaced farmers in the loan waiver scheme. AICC general secretary S. Veerappa Moily, AICC secretary Iqbal Singh, Ministers N. Rajyalakshmi, Maganti Babu, MLAs and district officials were present.

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