Andhra Pradesh to complete several irrigation projects in north Andhra expeditiously

Vijayawada: The AP water resources authorities have promised to complete the several ongoing irrigation projects in north Andhra region by the kharif season in 2023. These would provide water for drinking, irrigation and industrial needs.

Water resources engineer-in-chief C Narayana Reddy told the media here on Tuesday that some of these were pending for several years.

In north Andhra region, between 2004 and 2014, nearly 89,200 acres of land was brought under cultivation by providing water at a cost of Rs 1,539 crore, he said.

From 2014 to 2019, about 69,000 acres were brought under cultivation at a cost of Rs 1,571 crore. From 2019 to now, they spent Rs 488 crore and arranged water supply to 11,649 crore acres.

Reddy listed out several irrigation projects including Vamsadhara phase-II, Gotta Barrage, interlinking of Vamsadhara and Nagavalli, Mahendratanaya offshore reservoir, Madduvalasa, Thotapalli, Gajapathinagaram Branch Canal, the Tarakarama Thirtha Sagaram, the Dr B.R. Ambedkar Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanthi etc and said that as they were in various stages of completion.

The state government was of the opinion that every rupee spent on execution of the projects should be done in a transparent manner and must benefit the targeted people.