Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee is organizing a comprehensive presentation on Irrigation projects to focus on the “facts and falsehoods of this (TRS) Government’s claims” on the projects, at Ravi Narayan Reddy auditorium, MLAs colony, Road No12, Banjara Hills here at 2 pm on August 17.
This was stated by TPCC President N Uttam Kumar Reddy here today in a note. He alleged that the present TRS Government has commenced unrealistic and irrational irrigation projects for the State. The contract works awarded so far or likely to be awarded shortly are of a value of approximately Rs.83,000 crore for Kaleswaram project, Rs.47,000 crore for Palamuru Rangareddy project, Rs.10,000 crore for Sitarama Project and several thousands of crore for other projects such as Dindi. The entire tendering process was believed to be conducted in a non-transparent, non-global, and non-competitive manner to benefit a few favored companies who were supposed to have been awarded the works on the hugely over priced rates.
Reddy contended that no Detailed Project Reports (DPR) are kept in the public domain nor made available to even elected members of the Legislative Assembly even on specific requests to the Government. The ayacut claimed in the new irrigation projects are believed to be false figures. No cost-to-benefit ratios or means of finance are disclosed to anybody.
He further stated that it is astonishing that to save submergence of couple of thousand acres of land in neighbouring States, the Government redesigns projects and submerges lakhs of acres of its own small and marginal farmers. The irony is hat the Government is spending thousands of crore on contractors, but being miserly on the resettlement and rehabilitation of the submergence affected villagers. The Government is violating the Parliament Land Acquisition Act 2013 and forcibly implementing the GO 123 causing distress to farmers, landless poor and artisans, he alleged. (NSS)