Industry & Economy
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Water
Master plan to tap rainwater for irrigation in AP
Our Bureau
Hyderabad
,
Aug. 31
THE Andhra Pradesh Government is preparing a Master Plan to tap all of rainwater and utilise the same for irrigation.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, Dr A. Chandra Sekhar, Minister for Minor Irrigation, said the idea was to develop water resources in the backward districts in the State.
Incidentally, the Government has identified five districts (Anantapur, Mahboobnagar, Rangareddy, Cuddapah and Adilabad) where the Minor Irrigation Department would develop water bodies at a cost of Rs 73 crore.
The project, part of a nationwide pilot project, would cater to an ayacut of 49,000 acres in these districts. The Minister said rest of the districts would be taken up in phases.
Elaborating on the upcoming Master Plan, he said the plan would see to it that every village would have a tank. "We used to have a system like that in the past. We will revive and restore all the tanks that were breached," he said.
The Minister said that a large number of tanks and catchment area in the State Capital and surrounding areas were encroached upon. "But this is not the case with the rest of the State. We have asked the District Collectors to provide detailed information on this count," he said.
He said he held a State-level meeting with top officials of the Department to get feedback from them. "Districts such as Adilabad, Srikakulam, Chittoor Anantapur have good forest cover and hilly terrain. But there are no arrangements to store rainwater," he said.
Mr S.P. Tucker, Secretary (Irrigation and Commissioner Command Area Development Authority), said Planning Commission had estimated that one million water bodies in the country could be revived. Of these, 80,000 water bodies were situated in the State.
He said a proposal identifying the five districts had been sent to the Centre. "More and more districts would be included each year," he said.
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