The status of irrigation projects in Andhra Pradesh

16  projects, needing only 851 crores, which will  irrigate 18 lakhs of acres are abandoned without being completed.

22 more projects, needing only Rs 4367 crores,  and which could be completed within 8 months and irrigate 15 lakhs of acres are either abandoned or left half completed.

The Govt allocated Rs 13,500 lakshs in the budget this year.  Out of this, if the govt spends only 5000 crores, which is less than half of the budget, 38 projects could be completed within 8 months, irrigating 33 lakshs of acres. This was the report submitted by the experts in the field of Irrigation and not by politicians or common people. There has been no progresss in any project in the last four years, due to negligence and lack of commitment by the govt. There is slogan-mongering at the beginning of Kharif and Rabi seasons, that the projects will be completed , but afterwards, there is absolutely no word from the govt.

YSR started the Jala Yagnam with a lofty idea of providing water to almost every acre in the state.  86 projects were started with an estimate of Rs 1.26 lakhs of crores out of which 86 thousand crores were spent. 12 projects were completed during his lifetime and 21 more were completed half,  on account of which irrigation was provided for 20 lakhs of acres.

After his sudden demise, only 4 projects were completed on the technical side but no water flowed from them. There are still 66 projects at various stages of construction and 4 more projects were shelved completely.

Rosaiah who became CM after the death of YSR, shortlisted those projects which were in the final stages of construction and which could be completed quickly. He shortlisted about 32 projects and added 50 more later on.

But a number of these projects have come to a standstill because the contractors are demanding a higher rate. They are also expressing doubts whether their bills will be cleared at all. The govt constituted a sub-committee to look in to these issues but the committee did not give a report yet.

After the death of YSR, the govt is allotting 15,000 crores for projects every year. Projects like Komaram Bhim, Kalvakurthi-1, Bhima, Handri-Neeva were started but no water flows from these projects. The projects have come to a stop due to insignificant reasons like acquisition of land or permissions from the forest dept which could easily be attended to. What is lacking is commitment from the govt .  According to the officials from the irrigation dept., Pulichinthala  project could be completed within two months but the contractor is deliberately delaying completion, to get a higher rate. 

As for the Polavaram project,it has come to a halt even at the stage of calling for tenders though permission from the centre was obtained when YSR was alive. Another example is that of the Pranahitha – Chevalla project. The govt of Maharashtra came forward to offer help for it. The Centre is ready to grant a package from the Prime Minister’s fund, yet  the govt has failed to make use of these offers to complete the project.

- Sakshipost