Polavaram project is very important to the State : Devineni Uma

Vijayawada, February 19: Andhra Pradesh Minister for Water resources development Devineni Umamaheswara Rao has been participated in a workshop conducted by the water resources department on Saturday at the office.

More than 350 students studying in 17 engineering colleges participated in the workshop.

Devineni said on Saturday the State Government has spent Rs.22,000 crore on irrigation since it came to power and been giving top priority for construction of irrigation projects and proper use of water resources available in the State.

He said Polavaram project is very important to the State and 48 gates each weighing 500 tons will be installed as part of the mega project.

The Minister said the Government had installed 180 piezometers to collect the ground water levels in Andhra Pradesh and furnishing the details daily in the CM dashboard.

He informed that the Government is conducting Neeru-Meeru program in 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh and trying to create awareness on water conservation and proper usage of available water.

He said diverting of Godavari water to Krishna district via Pattiseema is an important milestone in the history of irrigation department in Andhra Pradesh the Pattiseema waters have saved crops worth several hundred crores in the last Kharif season, he added.

He suggested the students to regularly meet the farmers and interact with them to get aware of the waters and proper utilization. District collector Babu A, Engineering in Chief M Venkateswara Rao, irrigation officials and students participated in the workshop.