Mission Kakatiya Updates

Adopt lakes, Harish exhorts NRIs

Hyderabad: Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao today exhorted Telangana NRIs to fund lakes restoration project in Telangana State by adopting them.

The minister addressed an open letter to the NRIs of the region. Stating that the lakes restoration project would help the farmers and towns get adequate irrigation waters to reap in better benefits and prevention of migration. Expressing gratitude to three NRIs for coming forward to adopt the lakes and ponds, he recalled that the former played a pivotal role in Telangana Movement by exposing the issue to all other nations. “Now, as Telangana has achieved Statehood, we have to focus on rebuilding it into a golden one with active participation of the NRIs, farmers, government and people, he said.

White Card Holders to Get 6 Kg Rice : Harish Rao

HYDERABAD: The state government will launch three new schemes from January 1. It proposes to supply six kg of rice to each member of family having white ration card, supply of fine quality of rice to inmates of welfare hostels and supply of eggs and mid-day meal to all pregnant women and children in anganwadis.

At the zilla parishad meeting of Ranga Reddy district held here on Saturday, finance minister E Rajender said the government would replace the existing ration cards with Food Security Cards soon. He said that six kg rice would be supplied to each member of the family having white ration cards, irrespective of the total number of family members.

The minister further said that the government was committed to provide food security cards and social security pensions to all eligible persons in the state. He said that fine variety of rice would be supplied to schools for mid-day meal programme.

Irrigation minister T Harish Rao said that the state government has identified 2,747 tanks in Rangareddy district for restoring them under Mission Kakatiya in the next five years. He said that every year 20 per cent of the total tanks would be restored.

Harish Rao said that if any donor came forward to restore irrigation tanks, the government would hand over the tanks to them.

Transport minister P Mahender Reddy said that 555 minor irrigation tanks would be restored in Ranga Reddy district in the first phase. He said that out of 555 tanks, the survey was completed on 340 tanks so far and the proposals for 187 tanks with an estimated cost of `113 crore were prepared. Mahender Reddy said that the government was planning to construct godowns to store one lakh tonnes of food grains in Rangareddy district.

Previous regimes neglected Ranga Reddy: Harish Rao

Hyderabad: Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao on Saturday accused the previous regimes of ignoring the development of Ranga Reddy district.

Addressing a review meeting on Mission Kakatiya at the Ranga Reddy District Collectorate here, Harish Rao said that Ranga Reddy was among the most ignored district in the united Andhra Pradesh.

He said no planned development took place and successive governments encouraged encroachments in the entire district. However, he assured that the Telangana Government would take steps to undo the injustices done to the district.

Harish Rao said that as part of Mission Kakatiya, all lakes and tanks in Ranga Reddy district would be revived with the involvement of all sections of the society. He said earlier regimes had appointed only one Superintending Engineer for four districts.

He said that the Telangana Government would appoint dedicated SE for each district. The entire tender process would be decentralised and simplified. He said that the officials would be given enough powers for proper and timely execution of the projects. He said all public representatives, from Sarpanch to local MLA, would be given the list of lakes being restored in their area.

Welfare schemes to become apolitical-Harish Rao

Hyderabad: Irrigation minister T. Harish Rao said that after formation of separate Telangana, implementation of all welfare schemes have been made apolitical.

Mr Harish Rao also stated that the government would implement mid-day meal scheme for pregnant women at Anganwadi centres soon.

“No politics is involved in the implementation of the welfare schemes by the TRS government. Every eligible person, irrespective of his or her political affiliation, will get the benefits under the TRS government,” he remarked.

He sought the cooperation of government employees to effectively implement the welfare schemes.

Accusing the previous government in the undivided state of destroying water tanks that were the lifeline of villages and towns, he said many tanks were wiped out and some of the existing ones were almost without water.

“In the past, people had to run around MLAs, officials to get roads laid. Things are different now. It is the avowed duty of the government to lay quality roads and we will do it. We will ensure drinking water to every home and all eligible will get pensions,” he remarked.

Mr Harish Rao who participated in the Ranga Reddy ZP meeting said Mission Kakatiya will be effectively implemented in all districts including Ranga Reddy. “Mission Kakatiya will bring back the lifeline to every village,” he added.

Mr Rao also sought the cooperation of people, all political parties in the effective implementation of welfare schemes.

Restoration of tanks from January first week: Harish Rao

The desiltation and restoration of tanks under the Mission Kakatiya would begin from January first week and the irrigation officials should complete tender process by then, said Irrigation minister T Harish Rao.

Addressing the officials and public representatives at an awareness meeting on Mission Kakatiya held at Kakatiya Medical College campus here on Tuesday, the minister said the state government would be taking up restoration of 9,000 tanks across the Telangana state this year.

The work would be complete by May end and the tanks would be ready by first showers of monsoon, he said. According to him, the Union minister Ms Uma Bharati may launch the programme along with chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in January.

Explaining the intentions of the government in reviving age old tanks in all villages, the minister urged local politicians and people to cut across the party lines and take part in the holy task.

“This is noble mission and government alone cannot complete the task. All people should cooperate. Launch of work at village tank should be held like a common festival,” he said.

Mr Harish Rao said government has earmarked Rs 2,000 crore this year and plans to spend Rs 20,000 in the next five years on reviving the tanks in villages in state. The irrigation department has made elaborate exercise besides strengthening its cadre, decentralizing decision making, simplifying procedures and bringing in transparency.

“I request every engineer to act responsibly and work whole heartedly in this mission,” he said.

Be a part of ‘Mission Kakatiya’, Harish tells NRIs, businessmen

Irrigation Minister T.Harish Rao has called upon non-resident Indians and businessmen from Telangana to be a part of development of the State’s villages by funding the restoration of irrigation tanks in their native villages.

Mr.Harish Rao urged them to join hands with the Telangana government's ‘Mission Kakatiya’ programme under which the aim is to restore 46,000 tanks across 10 Telangana districts to irrigate 23 lakh acres by storing 2,500 tmcft of water.

Minister’s offer
Addressing a district level review meeting of Kakatiya Mission here on Sunday, the Irrigation Minister offered to name the irrigation tanks after their father or mother or other desired names of donors.

Informing that they were working to obtain grants from the Centre, World Bank and other funding agencies for the restoration work, Mr. Rao also asked the officials to let the farmers take the whole silt from the tanks if they were ready to use them in their fields to restrict the spending. He also called upon the farmers to use the silt in their field which can decrease the usage of fertilizer, pesticides and increase productivity. The Minister said that as many as 952 irrigation tanks would be restored in Nalgonda district against a total of 4,762 tanks by investing crores of rupees.

Department strengthened
Reiterating that they would complete these 952 tanks’ restoration by May, 2015, Mr.Rao said that they had also strengthened the minor irrigation department by appointing an SE as head in place of EE, increased EEs to four from existing one, DyEEs to 16 and AEs to one in each mandal to expedite the work.

He further said that the Chief Engineer of Minor Irrigation, A. Ramakrishna Rao, and Nagarjunasagar CE Purusothamraju will review the budget estimation of each tank, tender processing and progress of work quite frequently.

The Minister said that he would visit all the mandals in Telangana to closely monitor the works. He further said that the restoration work would bring 23 lakh acres of land under irrigation besides it would also contribute to ecological balance and water harvesting.

Minister.G Jagadishwar Reddy, ZPTC Chairman Balu Nayak, Deputy Chairman of Legislative Council, Nethi Vidyasagar, MPs, Gutha Sukendar Reddy, Boora Narsaiah Goud and others were present.