Ministers to thank Rain God

Overwhelmed by the huge inflows into the Krishna and Godavari rivers from upper catchment in Karnataka and Maharasthra and good rains across the state, the state government is planning to thank the nature by performing pujas at the three major reservoirs including a barrage.

Chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy deputed six of his senior Cabinet colleagues "� K Rosaiah, K Jana Reddy, P Laxmaiah, M Satyanarayana Rao, P Venkateshwar Rao and J C Diwakar Reddy "� to perform 'Gangamma Puja' at Nagarjunasagar, Srisailam, Sriram Sagar and Prakasham Barrage. The decision to perform pujas at the dam sites was taken at the Cabinet meeting held on Monday, a press release said.

He called for a joint effort and unified approach by all political parties and interested groups for fully harnessing the potential in Krishna and Godavari basins in the state by building irrigation projects.

"Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where parties brushing aside the political affiliations, joined hands in building the projects, have set worth emulating example to others. With the government committed to taking up all the programmed projects, its hands should be strengthened by all. Such an effort will help complete the projects in time," the letter said.

To facilitate the early completion of the projects on war-footing basis, tenders were invited on engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode and works to the tune of over Rs 30,000 crore were awarded recently, the chief minister said.

He reiterated that the government will keep its commitment to complete eight of the identified projects before June 2006.