Krishna canal works going on at snail's pace

VIJAYAWADA: Three long years after the launch of Krishna delta modernisation project, the irrigation officials have completed only about three per cent of the proposed works.
Realising that strengthening of the canals and clearing all the drains are the only way to ensure that water reaches the farmer at the tail end part of the district, late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had granted a whopping Rs 2,249 crore exclusively for the Krishna Eastern Delta Modernisation project.
The state government gave administrative sanctions to the project in 2007 by splitting the works into 20 packages. Works were divided into 14 irrigation packages and six drainage packages. While an amount of Rs 1,458 crore was allotted for 14 irrigation works, Rs 791 crore was given for the drainage works.
However, exactly three years after the state government gave the go-ahead for the long-pending modernization works, the works have not witnessed any progress. As per the original schedule, the works should have been completed by May 2011. Experts now say that it could take at least another five to six years for it to be completed.
Though the works were divided into packages, they failed to attract the local contractors as most of them were designed with high volumes at the beginning. "In fact, it was designed to help some big people. The government split some works into small packages only after there was no response from the contractors," said senior TDP leader Devineni Umamaheswara Rao.
Officials could so far spend just Rs 2.3 crore on the modernisation of Prakasam barrage work which was initiated with Rs 204 crore. This is merely 1.25 per cent of the total cost.
Similarly, Polaraju canal modernisation witnessed a poor progress with the completion of just 5.98 per cent of the work. The department showed an expenditure of Rs 3.98 crore of the Rs 67.30 crore. Curiously, the department is still awaiting a response from contractors for nearly five packages costing Rs 333.70 crore.
Irrigation SE D Chandra Rao exuded confidence that the works could see some light as the state government has posted a chief engineer exclusively to monitor the modernisation works. Ironically, the department has not even prioritised works that should be taken first. The fate of the drainage modernization works is even worse as 18 of the 21 packages are still awaiting response from the contractors.