The state government launched the second phase of Mission Kakatiya on Monday and announced that the ground work would be completed in three months. Work on both the phases is expected to be completed by March next.
While launching the second-phase work, irrigation minister T Harish Rao claimed that the first phase was a huge success, with 80 percent of the work done within the deadline. The remaining work will be finished by January.
“The project drew impressive results in some districts such as Warangal, Adilabad and Khammam where the ground water level has gone up after restoration of lakes,” he claimed.
Addressing engineers of the irrigation department at the launch event at the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University here, Harish Rao said, “After the success of the first phase, donations are pouring in from various sources including industries, NRIs and other private organisations.”
So far, the government has received Rs 25.31 crore in the form of donations. To clear the route for NRI donations, the state government has obtained FCRA permit from the central government.
Apart from these donations, the state government had allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the second- phase work, Rao said and hoped that these funds would help the government restore all the tanks and lakes in the state.
Irrigation department officials informed the minister that the first-phase work in some districts was affected due to shortage of staff and requested him to fill up the vacancies. As the second-phase work is set to increase the work load, the government is now planning to recruit more engineers to the department.
Around 700 vacancies have been identified in the department. However, 411 of the vacant posts will be filled with the recently-recruited engineers. They were recruited by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) and they are expected to join the service in a month. In addition to them, 300 more engineers will be recruited soon. The proposal for new recruitment has been sent to the TSPSC.
To supervise the project, the services of 114 retired engineers would also be utilised, Harish Rao said.
Finance minister, Etela Rajender lauded the engineers for their efforts to complete the work. He assured the irrigation department of complete support from the finance department to achieve the second-phase targets.
Source: The New Indian Express