Telangana is miffed with the Centre for not providing financial assistance to its flagship Kaleshwaram irrigation project and Mission Bhageeratha, to provide drinking water to every household in the State.

S Niranjan Reddy, Telangana Minister for Agriculture and Civil Supplies, thanked Nabard for extending support to the programme as it has helped the State complete the project in just three years.

“The world’s biggest multi-level lift irrigation project in the world will provide water to 40 lakh acres,” he said.

“You (the Centre) should support the projects which are a national wealth. Not providing financial help for political reasons is not correct,” he said.

He said the government had revived 46,000 tanks, which have an aggregate capacity of 265 tmcft, across the State in a bid to revive the ecosystem and biodiversity. The tanks were neglected and had run down over a period of time.

He was addressing a conference to mark the 38th Foundation Day of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard).

Vijay Kumar, Chief General Manager of Nabard’s Telangana Regional Office, asked the State government to help self-help groups to deploy digital solutions. It will help them get better access to financial assistance from banks.

He also asked the State to provide policy support to farmer producer organisations on the lines of Odisha and Tamil Nadu.

Responding to Nabard’s appeal, Niranjan Reddy said the State government is keen digitise the SHGs. “I request you to formulate a policy for this,” he said.

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