The Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday laid the foundation for the mega Palamur lift irrigation project on the Krishna river to serve the drought-prone Mahaboonagar district of the State.

Being taken up with an outlay of Rs 35,200 crore, the project aims to serve an ayacut of 10 lakh acres covering three districts of Mahaboobnagar (seven lakh acres), Ranga Reddy (2.7 lakh acres) and Nalgonda (30,000 acre).

The project seeks to harness 90 tmc water. Of this 70 tmc would be deployed for irrigation and 20 tmc is meant to serve the drinking water needs of the Hyderabad metropolis.

The lift irrigation project aims to construct six reservoirs at Narlapur (6 tmc), Edula (4.5 tmc), Vattem (16 tmc), Karivena (24 tmc), Lokirevu (11 tmc) and KP Laxmidevipalle (10 tmc).

The water from Srisailam reservoir foreshore would be used to meet the requirements of the parched Mahaboobnagar district when the river is faced with flooding at the rate of 1.5 tmc per day.

The project is planned to provide water to Mahaboobnagar, which saw huge migration to other places in search of work, within four years. Locals were urged by the Government to give up lands to implement the project assuring them of all Government support and liberal compensation.

AP OBJECTS

Andhra Pradesh Government has objected to taking up the project without securing necessary clearances from various Central Government agencies. It has written a letter to the Centre raising objection to the project on the ground that it is violating the AP Reorganisation Act and various tribunal awards

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