KCR to sign agreements on construction of five barrages across the river Godavari and its tributaries The people of Telangana will have one more long-lasting reason to celebrate March 8 in the years to come in addition to it being the International Women’s Day as the State is slated to sign agreements with its neighbour Maharashtra on construction of five barrages across the river Godavari and its tributaries, heralding a new beginning in the area of irrigation. A high-level delegation led by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao reached Mumbai on Monday afternoon to be available there to make any last-minute changes in the agreements drafts, if any, which have already been finalised by a team of officials led by Principal Secretary (Irrigation) S.K. Joshi, by camping in Mumbai for two days, in consultation with their Maharashtra counterparts. Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao would have a meeting with his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis before the two sides ink the agreements in their presence at Sahyadri Guesthouse in Mumbai on Tuesday. Official sources stated that there is a likelihood of a joint statement being issued by the two Chief Ministers after the signing of agreements. Telangana and Maharashtra would sign agreements on construction of Chankha-Korata, Rajapet and Penpahad barrages as part of the inter-State Lower Penganga project pending for about four decades now. The three barrages would come across the Penganga river benefitting farmers of both the States by creating an irrigation potential of over 3 lakh acres. Similarly, another agreement would be signed on construction of a barrage across Pranahita near Tummidihatti in Adilabad district as part of Pranahita-Chevella project to irrigate about 2.5 lakh acres of uplands. However, the all important pact would be for Medigadda barrage to be constructed as part of Kaleshwaram project, a component of the redesigned Pranahita-Chevella, to tap about 160 TMC ft water from Godavari after Pranahita and Indravati join it. The agreements would turn a new leaf in the inter-State relations on contentious issues, particularly on utilisation of river waters when raging disputes were on between several States, said Advisor (Irrigation) R. Vidyasagar Rao adding that the significance would be agreeing on utilising water within the respective allocations made by Bachawat Tribunal. “Redesigning of Pranahita-Chevella will now help irrigate the designed ayacut of 16.4 lakh acres as it has storage reservoirs with a total capacity of 128 TMC ft against only one barrage at Tummidihatti in the original design. Lifting of such quantity of water from Medigadda won’t be a problem as the availability at the point has been assessed at over 282 TMC ft in three out of four every four years”, Mr. Vidyasagar Rao explained.