K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR,) the Chief Minister of Telangana, on the 3rd of May, announced the deadline for the Mallana Sagar Tank irrigation project.
On the 3rd of May, KCR held a review meeting with the top officials of the Irrigation Department, following which, he finalised a deadline of 6 months, within which the irrigation project must be completed. The Mallana Tank project, which is worth Rs. 9,800 crores, is one of the important development projects initiated by the Telangana Government.
The notice issued to the Irrigation Department states, “Distribution of compensation shall be completed on war footing and the works of Mallanna Sagar Reservoir shall be taken up immediately and expedited like the Konda Pochamma Sagar Reservoir. The reservoir work shall be completed on war footing within 6 to 7 months. By the end of next June, the reservoir shall be filled with water.”
The Mallanna Sagar Tank is designed to store 51,000 million cubic feet of water for irrigation purpose. The project will help the residents of Medak, Nizamabad, Warangal and Rangareddy in irrigating approximately 12 lakh acres of drought land.
Though the project will help farmers in irrigation, a few villages will be affected and will be submerged due to the reserved water. After the completion of the project, the Telangana Government will acquire 20,079 acres of land which belongs to the villagers, as the land will be used to store water.
Although the KCR led Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) agreed to pay Rs. 8 lakhs per acre as a compensation, the farmers are against the project and are protesting. The farmers and villagers of 14 villages of the Medak district are asking for Rs. 16 lakhs per acre, which is said to be the net value of the land.
Chandrashekar Rao, the President of the TRS, asked S.K. Joshi, the Chief Secretary of Telangana and the Special Chief Secretary of the Irrigation Department, to supervise the work on the project and achieve the goal set by KCR.
KCR also directed Mr. Joshi to see the disbursement of the compensation to the people personally and submit a report regarding the same to the Telangana High Court by the 11th of May.
Smitha Sabharwal, the Secretary of the Chief Minister Office (CMO,) is will disburse the compensation money and distribute to the respective villagers under S.K. Joshi.
KCR asked the TRS members to set up several camps in eight villages and give the compensation amount to the families affected by the Project.
As of now, the Telangana Government already spent Rs. 8,000 crores to the people for compensation and rehabilitation.
The Mallanna Sagar Tank project is expected to complete by June 2019.
Stay tuned for further updates about the story.