The Telangana government has urged the Centre to give Stage II clearance for Palamuru-Rangareddy lift-irrigation scheme to speed up works on the project.
The request was made at a virtual meeting of the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forest with irrigation officials of the State. Special Chief Secretary, Irrigation, Rajat Kumar, who made the presentation to the committee said there was some delay in submitting Environmental Impact Assessment Report and Environmental Management Protocol due to Covid which affected the schedule of the project.
The project envisaged irrigation for 12.3 lakh acres in Mahabubnagar, Rangareddy, Narayanpet, Vikarabad, Nagarkurnool and Nalgonda districts and drinking water for 1,226 villages through diversion of 1.5 tmc ft water per day for 60 days a year. The project was designed with multi-stage reservoirs whose construction was completed at Narlapur (8.51 tmc ft), Edula (6.55 tmc ft), Vattem (16.74 tmc ft), Karivena (17.34 tmc ft) and Uddandapur (16.03 tmc ft). Only the construction of pump-houses was left to be taken up.
