Marellapadu lift irrigation scheme inaugurated, Godavari water released into Thummalacheruvu

Around 4,300 acres in Aswapuram mandal will receive irrigation water in the first phase of the newly inaugurated Marellapadu lift irrigation scheme, with the coverage planned to be extended to nearly 23,000 acres in phases, Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy said on Wednesday.

Mr. Srinivas Reddy and Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao inaugurated the scheme, taken up at an estimated cost of ₹61 crore, at Marellapadu village in Aswapuram mandal of Bhadradri Kothagudem district.

The Ministers switched on the pumps at the Marellapadu pumphouse, a component of the Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Project (SRLIP), releasing Godavari water into Thummalacheruvu, sources said.

Addressing a gathering at Gondigudem village, Mr. Srinivas Reddy said the process of land acquisition and obtaining forest clearances for the long-pending Pulusubontha project would be expedited to facilitate its completion.

He recalled that foundation stones had been laid for several irrigation projects in the erstwhile undivided Khammam district during the tenure of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

He alleged that the BRS government had spent thousands of crores at the cost of the State exchequer in the name of redesigning irrigation projects.

The Congress government would expedite the completion of irrigation projects to provide assured irrigation to farmers, he said.

Mr. Nageswara Rao said the decades-long wait of farmers in the Aswapuram area for Godavari water to be released into Thummalacheruvu had ended with the commissioning of the Marellapadu scheme.

He said the State government was committed to completing the SRLIP to expand irrigation coverage and strengthen the irrigation facilities in the erstwhile combined Khammam district.

Mahabubabad MP P. Balram Naik, Pinapaka MLA Payam Venkateshwarlu and others spoke.