Mission Kakatiya has T-NRIs in tow
Hyderabad, Feb 20 (INN): Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao has impressed upon Telangana NRIs about State Government's unflinching commitment and efforts to irrigate every acre of the agricultural land in the State in the next three to four years and appealed to all Telanganites to be part of their dream project, Mission Kakatiya with a missionary zeal.
Harish Rao was speaking to the 715 NRIs from countries like USA, UK, Australia, Singapore and Gulf regions in a phone-in programme, a TDF-USA initiative aimed at bringing them closer to the Government and the leadership and help collaborate in the development back home. The TDF had successfully organized a similar program with the Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari recently which saw about 600 NRIs taking part.
Harish Rao, who accompanied the Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to Mumbai for talks with the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the inter-State water issues, caught up with the callers just prior to his departure from Mumbai. He answered to the questions with great composure. Not to mention, his command over the nitty-gritty in his subject area, floored the audience.
Harish said that the Mission Kakatiya, with the tag line 'Mana Vooru, Mana Cheruvu' (Our village and our lake), is one of the illustrious projects for the Government. 'Lakes in Telangana region enjoyed a great legacy of 1000 years. They thrived under the Kakatiyas, Quli Qutub Shahis and the Nizams. However, they suffered due to callous attitude of successive governments in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh affecting people from all walks of life in Telangana.
The Mission Kakatiya is being taken up on a war-footing to revive around 45,000 lakes with 9,000 every year until 2019 and with a budget of Rs 20,000 crores. These lakes require renovation and repair and should be freed from encroachments in some cases.
Once they were restored, they can store around 260 TMC of water and irrigate up to 25 lakh hectares in the State. Apart from agriculture, the project would provide succor to communities like fishermen, washer men and other artisans, who are greatly dependent on water. It also provides sort of cultural and spiritual identity to the villages,' explained the Minister.
He said the government was overwhelmed with the response pouring in from various quarters like TJAC and the four-lakh TNGOs, with the latter donating a day's salary for the project.
Harish sought to dispel the feelings of most of the NRIs who were unsure if they were welcome to be part of the 'mission' and outlined the modalities for adoption of the lakes.
'No project aimed at reconstruction of Telangana is complete without your (NRIs) participation. We welcome you with both hands to be part of this grand project. There is no hard and fast rule as to how much money you (NRIs) should contribute towards this.
The government is willing to name the lakes after the family members of the NRI who donate and adopt them,' said Harish, adding 'if needed, we are even willing to open a bank account for the donations to flow in. There will be transparency and accountability in the whole process by way of updating the information with pictures regularly on the government website.'
Harish also promised the NRIs that his department would maintain a close coordination with them through calls and emails.
News Posted: 20 February, 2015
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