K Chandrasekhar Rao orders helipads at dam site

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday instructed officials to set up police camps, construct watch towers and helipads at the barrages under the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project.

While reviewing the progress of construction work of the project with senior officers of the departments concerned, the Chief Minister told them to take steps to also construct staff housing quarters at the maximum height over the high flood level to shield them in the event of a flood.

Officials explained Mr Chandrasekhar Rao their plan to instal 3,000 conduits for every canal in order to fill the chain tanks.

To this the Chief Minister said that farmers were earlier being forced to get water for their ponds by destroying the conduits. Now, the government itself was installing conduits so that water from the projects as well as rainwater in the monsoon can be diverted to the ponds.

This would also help improve the groundwater level, he said. Diverting water to ponds would increase storage.

Those at the meeting were party leader K. Kavitha, Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi, secretary  in the Chief Minister’s Office Smita Sabharwal, irrigation department adviser Penta Reddy, engineer in chief Hareram, officer on special duty Sridhar Deshpande and others participated.