VIJAYAWADA, AUG 5 :  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Monday directed the District Collectors to prepare an action plan to fill the reservoirs and ponds so that every drop of water can be properly utilised.

Reviewing the availability of water resources in the State during the Collectors conference, the Chief Minister wanted the crops that can be grown with minimum water usage to be encouraged. Directing the District Collectors to take steps to fill all the drinking water tanks in the State ontime, he said that the aim of the State should be supplying irrigation water to every acre.

Stressing the need for interlinking all the rivers in the State, the Chief Minister said that the State has five main rivers, the Krishna, the Godavari, the Pennar, the Nagavali and the Vamsadhara and 35 small rivers besides 38,422 minor irrigation facilities. Pointing out that four crore acres of ayakut needs to be irrigated in all the 26 districts in the State, he wanted to make use of every drop of water in the ongoing rainy season.

Directing the District Collectors to review the revival of all the lift irrigation schemes that can be completed with minimum expenditure, he asked them to coordinate with the officials of the Agricultural Department on encouraging the high-yielded crops that can be grown with less utilisation of irrigation water. Chandrababu is so particular about the supply of irrigation water even to the tail-end areas and told the Collectors to carefully monitor the process of release of water to canals and take timely decisions.

“The officials of the Irrigation Department, Revenue, Police and the Rural Water Supply (RWS) besides other wings should actively participate in this,” the Chief Minister told the meeting. Regretting that the previous government could not release funds even for erecting gates to the irrigation projects, Chandrababu Naidu made it clear that if any gate is washed away, the Assistant Engineer and the Deputy Engineer concerned will be placed under suspension.

Emphasizing the need for interlinking of rivers, the Chief Minister asked the Collectors to monitor canals and irrigation projects through drones.(UNI)