Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) said on Tuesday that irrigation projects planned over the following two and a half years across the rivers Godavari and Krishna will cultivate one crore acres of land in nine districts of Telangana .
KCR received a rousing welcome from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad, when he returned from Mumbai after signing an agreement with his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis to form an interstate board for irrigation projects. The chief minister described the pact with the neighbouring state as a historic achievement.
“We will be able to irrigate one crore acres of land in nine districts of the state once the planned projects come into being. Since six decades, both Godavari and Krishna are flowing into the sea without any utility. Now the time has come to utilise the waters of both the rivers, which are being let into the sea,” KCR said. He likened the pact with Maharashtra to the achievement of a separate Telangana state.
The pact will also facilitate the provision of drinking water for Hyderabad city and certain rural areas. KCR said that the industries will be allowed to use the water. He also added that the northern districts in Telangana will benefit substantially once the Godavari project is realized.
KCR appealed to debt-ridden farmers in the state not to commit suicide as his government will strive to complete the planned irrigation projects within two and a half years. He praised the state’s irrigation minister T Harish Rao for his efforts in coordinating with Maharashtra to sign the pact.
