Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will lay the foundation stone for the Varikapudisela Lift Irrigation (LI) Scheme in July first week, Minister for Water Resources Ambati Rambabu has said.
The Minister, along with Palnadu Collector Siva Sankar Lotheti, Narasaraopet MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Macherla MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy, MLC K.S. Lakshmana Rao and others visited the project site on June 20 (Tuesday).
Mr. Rambabu said that the government was committed to completing the project before the 2024 general elections and all arrangements are being made for that. “The State government has obtained all the permissions for the project, the works are likely to begin next month,” he said.
MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu said that when the Nagarjunasagar was constructed, this project was in consideration. The previous governments have laid the foundation for the project three times so far. However, the works could not take off for lack of clearances. The project is in the forest area and clearance from the Forest Department was needed,” he said.
Mr. Srikrishna Devarayalu said that the State government had allocated 54 acres as compensation for the forest land needed for the project. He assured that the government would go for the elections only after completing the first phase of the project.
Mr. Ramakrishna Redddy said the project is a dream of the people of Palnadu district. “The Centre has given all mandatory permissions for the project which envisages providing drinking and irrigation water to the people of this area.
