Harish Rao Sets 2017 Deadline for Pranahita Project.

State irrigation minister T Harish Rao recently announced that water from the Pranahita-Chevella Lift Irrigation scheme would be provided from June 2017 and it would benefit areas such as Armoor and Balkonda Assembly constituencies.

He added that Balkonda Assembly constituency will alone receive water for nearly 70,000 acres.

The Pranahita-Chevella project has been renamed Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project and all the works would be completed in the next few years.

Harish Rao toured the Balkonda Assembly constituency recently and laid foundation stones for several irrigation works in select villages.

Among them, foundation stones were laid for modernisation of Laxmi Canal in Vempally and Nawab canal in Velpoor at an estimated cost of Rs. 153.75 lakh and Rs. 303.50 lakh respectively. He also laid the foundation for construction of new godowns in Morthad and feeder works at Ameernagar. While addressing public meetings at Velpoor and Vempally villages, Harish told that the state government has given top priority to the irrigation sector and in the next financial year, the government will allocate Rs. 25,000 crore to the irrigation department to complete all the projects over the next few years.

“The irrigation department has spent Rs. 80 crore in Balkonda Assembly and nine hours of power supply will be provided in the daytime to the agriculture sector from March. The government will spend `30,000 crore for power generation and top priority would be given to construct godowns in rural areas,” Harish said.

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS