Whither ‘Jalayagnam’? Can Rosaiah take the weight?

Hyderabad,Nov 11: Chief Minister K Rosaiah has reiterated that 'Jalayagnam' continues to be the flagship programme of the state government and the government will accord priority to timely completion of the scheme. Mr Rosaiah has also asked the Irrigation Department officials to complete the projects which could provide water immediately to the farmers. He was reviewing the irrigation projects of Rayalaseema areas under phase-I with Minister for Major Irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah and concerned officials at the Secretariat.At the Tuesday’s meeting,Mr Rosaiah also assured the contractors that their pending bills,if any,would be cleared soon.

 He blamed the global economic slowdown for the delay in disposing of the bills.Jalayagnam,the dream project of late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy is now seen as a true test of Rosaiah’s clout,both in the State and at the Centre. The 2009-‘10 budget, saw the State Assembly passing proposal for Rs 1,03,485 crore,which included Rs 63,301.22 crore non-plan and Rs 40,134.11 plan expenditure.‘Jalayagnam’with 81 projects under it,has a capital outlay of Rs 1.76 lakh crore (Rs 1,800 crore has been earmarked for the current fiscal).

Though it has approved a budget of Rs 1 lakh crore, Mr Rosaiah, both as an astute finance minister and also as the head of the government has to find enough resources to put Jalayagnam into practice.Revenue mobilisation, the main stumbling block,is not as expected and the State has been looking up for assistance from the Centre, especially after the floods,which devastated five districts.