Naidu sets December 2028 for 36 irrigation projects and orders Chintalapudi works to restart in November

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu spent more than two hours on the water resources department at his camp office on 23 October, in the middle of local body election engagements. By the end he had put dates on the pending Chintalapudi lift scheme, the Polavaram canals and the state’s 36 priority irrigation projects.

Work on the Chintalapudi lift irrigation project is to restart in November. The 36 priority irrigation projects are to be completed by December 2028. On Polavaram, officials told the Chief Minister that 90.2 per cent of the civil works are done and that Gap-1 and Gap-2 of the earth-cum-rockfill dam are moving quickly. The right and left main canals are to be finished by March 2027, and their carrying capacity is to be raised.

The list was long. A Godavari–Pennar link is to be planned first, and after it a way to carry Godavari water on to the Cauvery. Officials are to examine barrages at Vykuntapuram and Chodavaram, upstream and downstream of Prakasam Barrage, to store 14 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water. Naidu also proposed an inland waterway from Bhadrachalam to Visakhapatnam through Rajamahendravaram and Vijayawada.

With a Bay of Bengal system bringing heavy rain, he told officials to take precautions and to make good use of the rainwater. Comprehensive flood, water and disaster management plans are to be prepared.

The Jaldhara–Jalaharathi programme continues. Its second phase runs as a 150-day programme until 31 March and is to be linked with the VB-G RAM G employment scheme, with a target of raising groundwater by more than three metres. The third phase starts on 1 April 2027.

Delta irrigation is to be modernised and canals desilted so that water reaches tail-end fields, and officials are to look at solar panels along canals. Water Resources Minister Nimmala Ramanaidu and chief engineers attended the review.