Hyderabad: In what has been described as a “significant milestone” in the completion of Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project (SLIP), irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, chief minister A Revanth Reddy and other ministers formally started the pumps at BG Kothur, Pusugudem and Kamalapuram pump houses that are part of the Sitarama project on Thursday, August 15.
Addressing the media after the inauguration of the pump houses, Uttam said that in the last 7-8 months significant progress has been achieved in the project, and assured that by August 15, 2026, the project will be completed, creating 7 lakh acres ayacut in the erstwhile Khammam district.
He said that the 9 km-long Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project-Wyra link canal has been completed in 70 days, to stabilise 1,18,000 acres under the Nagarjuna Sagart Project (NSP) tail-end ayacut, by creating an irrigation system to deliver Godavari waters to Krishna basin’s ayacut when the need arises.
Stating that 67.05 tmcft of water allocation was made to the project, he said that in 15-20 days the final approval of the Central Water Commission (CWC) would be obtained.
Terming it as the realisation of his life goal, agriculture minister Thummala Nageswara Rao said that only 36 percent of works for the project were completed during the BRS rule in the last 10 years, with an expenditure of only Rs 7,500 crore. “Rs 8,000 crore more would be needed to complete the project,” he added.
Revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy spoke about developing the distributary system under the project and suggested the construction of reservoirs to create more ayacut and for optimisation of water availability.
Speaking on the occasion, Revanth Reddy rubbished former irrigation minister T Harish Rao’s claim that 90 percent of the project’s works were completed during the BRS rule.
“A total of 4,000 crore was the estimated cost for Dummugudem-Rajiv and Indira Sagar project designed when Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister. Works worth Rs 2,500 crore were completed, and after the formation of Telangana, Indira Sagar went to AP and Rajiv Sagar fell inside Telangana. In the name of redesign, the cost of Rajiv Sagar escalated from Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 18,000 crore. Even in that, only around Rs 7,500 crore was spent during the BRS rule, which means less than 40 percent works were completed,” Revanth clarified.
He further alleged that four years after their installation, the pumps and motors were still lying in the pump houses unused. “We gave the power connections and paid power dues by transferring Rs 400 crore to the energy department. We worked day and night for 6 months to deliver the project,” he said.
Revanth mentioned that the state government is addressing all pending projects by categorizing them based on their completion status—80%, 60%, 40%, and 20% finished. He explained that priority is being given to projects nearing completion to ensure they are delivered as quickly as possible.
“Like wild boars attacking the sugarcane fields, KCR’s family has destroyed the state’s economy. the situation is such that we are taking loans to repay the interest on the debt accumulated by BRS government,” he observed.
