'Polavaram Right Canal in 8 Months'.

Irrigation minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao told newsmen recently that Polavaram Right Canal would be completed within the next eight months and that lifts would be used to supply water for irrigation purpose through this canal in the twin Godavari districts.

He said that about 80 tmcft of Godavari river water could be harnessed in less than a year by lifting it into the right main canal before the project construction was completed.

'Whenever there is a scarcity of water in the Krishna delta, we can make use of the water provided by the Polavaram Right Canal. No region will be deprived of drinking water as we are constructing the project only with the 2,249 to 2,500 tmc of water which has been hitherto going waste,' Umamaheswara Rao said.

'Under the land acquisition programme, a special package would be offered to people in the seven villages who had given their land for the Polavaram project. The collectors in the two districts are interacting with the farmers in these villages and the package for them will be announced soon after the discussions with the CM,' the minister said.


THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS