Pranahita-Chevella gets 7 clearances

HYDERABAD: The Kiran Kumar Reddy government has decided to implement the muchpublicised PranahitaChevella Sujala Sravanthi lift irrigation project in a phased manner. The chief minister has called for a fulllength discussion on the implementation of the project in the first week of December.Speaking to newsmen after a review meeting on irrigation convened by the chief minister at the Secretariat here on Saturday, major and medium irrigation minister P Sudershan Reddy informed that a total of seven clearances were received for PranahitaChevella project to be built on Godavari river as against a total of 18 clearances. A senior irrigation official was being sent to Maharashtra to get clearance in respect of submergence of areas in the neighbouring state. He expected a positive response from the Maharashtra government. For the first time, senior officials of finance department were also invited to the review meeting on Pranahita, he added. Answering a query, the irrigation minister claimed that there was no enhancement in the cost of PranahitaChevella project which was estimated at about ` 39,000 crore. The state government was giving priority to the project since water was available only at Pranahita river, he noted.It may be recalled that the state government has been making efforts to get national project status to PranahitaChevella and Polavaram from the Central government.The officials explained to the chief minister the project envisages to lift 160 TMC of water by constructing a barrage across Pranahita river. It will provide irrigation facility for an ayacut of about 16 lakh acres covering seven districts in Telangana region and provide 10 TMC drinking water to villages enroute to providing 30 TMC of water to the twin cities (Hyderabad and Secunderabad) and 16 TMC water for industrial use.With regard to agriculture fields located at Nagarjunasagar left and right canals, Sudershan Reddy made it clear that a decision to release water to the first crop particularly the irrigated dry (ID) crops would be taken in a couple of days.