Andhra Pradesh Magazine English June 2016 | Page 17

Two Years of Accomplishments

T

After achieving Godavari-Krishna river linkage, the Government’s endeavour is to
link Krishna with Somasila, which will help fill up tanks and reservoirs in Nellore,
Kadapa and Chittoor districts.

he Andhra Pradesh
government is prioritising
irrigation projects, making
efforts for interlinking of
rivers and introducing drip
and sprinkler irrigation to make the
state drought-free.
Having completed Pattiseema Lift
Irrigation in record time, the
Government is now committed to
completing the seven priority
irrigation projects in a time-bound
framework to provide sustainable
irrigation. The Chief Minister took it
upon himself to complete
Thotapally Barrage, Polavaram
Right Main Canal, GaleruNagari
Sujala Sravanthi, and Handri-Neeva
Sujala Sravanthi in 2016-17
financial year, and Vamsadhara
(Phase II) project, Poola Subbaiah
Velugonda project, Gundlakamma
Reservoir and the Polavaram Left
Main Canal in 2017-18 financial
year and Polavaram Phase-I Works
by June 2018.
To speed up the completion of
projects, CM Chandrababu Naidu
himself has been camping at project
sites at regular intervals and
inspecting the ongoing works.

JUNE 2016

In tune with priorities, the Plan
allocation for the Water Resources
sector was increased by 57 per cent,
from Rs 4,678.13 crores in 2015-16
financial year to Rs 7,325.21 crores
in 2016-17 financial year. An
amount of Rs 3,135.25 crores was
allocated for accelerated execution
and completion of other major
irrigation projects in accordance
with the time schedule. The
Government has earmarked Rs
3,660 crores for the Polavaram
project, which being a National
Project, will be financed by

Government of India. The Plan
allocation at Rs 674 crores for Minor
Irrigation sector went up by 23 per
cent.

assistance with a total project outlay
of Rs 291 crores that would create
an additional irrigation potential of
49,330 hectares.

After the linkage of Godavari and
Krishna rivers, drinking and
irrigation water would be supplied
to Rayalaseema from Srisailam
project. By 2017, water from
Polavaram left canal will be released
to Yeleru project. From Yeleru
project, water will flow to
Visakhapatnam to cater to the
drinking and industrial purposes.

The works taken up under NeeruChettu programme has contributed
to substantial improvement in the
ground water levels, especially in
the drought-prone districts of
Chittoor, Kadapa and Anantapuram.
Installation of 1,254 piezometers
has enabled realtime monitoring of
ground water availability and
facilitated scientific management of
water resources. The Chief Minister
has taken the lead in encouraging
building 10 lakh farm ponds under
“Panta Sanjeevini” to promote
farming in dry spells. The scheme
required a huge outlay with an
average farm pond of the size of
10 x 10 x 2 metres costing Rs.
61,000, but the Government is
sparing no effort to make the
program a success.

After achieving Godavari-Krishna
river linkage, the Government’s
endeavour is to link Krishna with
Somasila, which will help fill up
tanks and reservoirs in Nellore,
Kadapa and Chittoor districts. The
Chief Minister promised to bring
under irrigation 9 lakh acres in
north coastal Andhra by linking the
Vamsadhara and the Nagavali.
“While the Krishna, the
Tungabhadra, and the Penna face
ever lesser inflows due to projects
in the upper riparian States, close to
3,000 tmcft of water is drained into
the sea through the Godavari, the
Vamsadhara, and the Nagavali.
Hence, the government has decided
to accord top priority to interlinking
of rivers,” said Naidu.
The State is implementing the
Andhra Pradesh Community Based
Tank Management Project with the
World Bank assistance to
rehabilitate 975 minor irrigation
tanks covering an ayacut of 1.2 lakh
hectares in 12 districts with an
outlay of Rs. 459 Crores. The State is
also implementing the Andhra
Pradesh Irrigation and Livelihood
Improvement Project with JICA

ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG

Under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi
Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY), the
Government has taken up 15 432
watershed projects in twelve
districts, ensuring comprehensive
soil and moisture management
covering an area of 18.10 lakh
hectares with a financial outlay of
Rs. 2,290 Crores.
Under NTR Jala Sri Phase-1, the
administration is providing assured
irrigation to 50,000 Scheduled Caste
(SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST)
farmers covering an area of 2.19
lakh acres with an estimated cost of
Rs. 385.55 Crores. In addition,
during the 2015-16 financial year,
1.24 lakh bore wells, with an outlay
of Rs. 196.7 Crores, were
sanctioned.

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