Mission Kakatiya, the ambitious scheme to rejuverate all the lakes in Telangana, it appears, has come to a grinding halt. With the government unable to pay the contractors’ bills for the last two years, the works on Mission Kakatiya have been stopped.
The government has now decided to undertake the repairs of the lakes, tanks and other minor irrigation works only through the NREGS scheme. This effectively means that no funds would be paid under the ambitious Mission Kakatiya. The bills of the contracts done earlier have remained pending since 2018. The total Mission Kakatiya bills worth Rs 600 are lying pending for the last two years, government sources revealed.
The Mission Kakatiya was aimed at renovating 46571 lakes in Telangana that have a total command area of over 25 lakh acres. As of now, works on 26989 lakes and tanks has been taken up. Though the Mission Kakatiya went full throttle in the first phase, it gradually got slowed down due to lack of funds. In the third phase, of the total 5958 tanks, only 4241 tanks could be renovated. In the fourth phase, only a half of the 4200 tanks could be completed. The remaining works are lying incomplete.
Now the works would be taken up under the NREGS scheme. This effectively means that the ambitious scheme is all but gone. Fund crunch, Covid-induced financial crisis have effectively ended the scheme.
