Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for the link canal to Wyra reservoir through the Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Project (SRLIP)’s main canal at Wyra in Khammam district.
Ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Collector V.P. Gautham and others were present.
Works on the ₹13,058 crore SRLIP are progressing at a brisk pace in the erstwhile composite Khammam district, sources in the Irrigation department said.
The previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government accorded administrative approval for the project in 2016. It envisaged construction of head regulator at Dummugudem anicut in Bhadradri Kothagudem district to draw nearly 70 tmc of water from the Godavari river, sources added.
The SRLIP has been designed to make optimum utilization of Godavari river waters for irrigating new ayacut of 1.57 lakh acres in Khammam district, 1.62 lakh acres in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, 9,000 acres in Mahabubabad district besides stabilising the exiting ayacut of 2.48 lakh acres under the Nagarjunasagar left canal, Wyra and Lankasagar projects.
The government accorded administrative sanction of ₹99.16 crore for Enkoor link canal works to facilitate supply of water from the SRLIP main canal to the existing ayacut under the Wyra, Lankasagar and Nagarjunasagar projects by August 15 this year.