Rajya Sabha takes up bill on transferring Telangana land

New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) The Rajya Sabha Monday took up a bill to transfer parts of Telanaga's Khammam district to the successor state of Andhra Pradesh in connection with the construction of the Polavaram irrigation project.

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha last week amidst protests from Telangana members, will transfer 136 villages, 211 hamlets and seven mandals of Khammam district to Andhra Pradesh, where they will become part of the East Godavari district.

The Polavaram project involves the linking of the Krishna and Godavari rivers. The dam to be built in the district of West Godavari would enable the storing of 832,000 million cubic feet of water. This is expected to facilitate irrigation of an additional 232,000 acres in Andhra Pradesh.