Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and former Irrigation Minister Harish Rao, on Sunday, January 4, lambasted the ruling Congress for their ‘betrayals’ in river water allocation and called it the ‘number one villain for Telangana.’
Palamuru and Kaleshwaram projects
The Siddipet MLA claimed that the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) and the Kaleshwaram project were being neglected by the ruling Congress out of political vengeance.
Making a presentation on “River Waters and Congress Betrayals” at Telangana Bhavan, Harish Rao said that Congress was responsible for the ‘original betrayal’ by failing to include the project in the 11th Schedule of the AP Reorganisation Act.
He said that while the BRS had secured environmental clearances and pushed the project forward, the current regime has failed to secure a single clearance in two years. Instead, three Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) were returned during this period.
Speaking on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, Harish Rao said that the government is deliberately keeping the project idle to politicise the damage to a few pillars at the Medigadda barrage.
“By spending a nominal amount of Rs 100 to 200 crores on repairs, water could be supplied to nearly 5 to 6 lakh acres…water can also be lifted from the Kannepalli pump house even without the barrage, but the government lacks the will to do so, preferring to let the farmers of Northern Telangana suffer,” he said.
‘Revanth should apologise for misleading the Assembly’
He also accused Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of misleading the Assembly and pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh government had itself refuted the chief minister’s claims that the Rayalaseema Lift Project had been halted at his request.
“The AP government has clarified that works were stopped solely due to a National Green Tribunal (NGT) stay order obtained by the BRS government in 2020,” Harish Rao said and demanded CM’s apology for claiming credit for a legal victory actually achieved by the KCR administration.
He also accused Revanth Reddy of trying to create a false narrative that KCR had agreed to the unfair water distribution by reading “half paragraphs and partial sentences” from official records.
He also accused the government of agreeing to an unfair 66:34 water-sharing ratio with Andhra Pradesh, which the BRS had fought to remove.
He pointed out that under the current administration, the utilisation of Krishna water has dropped to a historic low of just 28.49 per cent.
Harish Rao concluded his presentation by saying that BRS is planning to launch a massive ‘Jala Poratam’ (water struggle) to protect Telangana’s rights and affirmed that the party would expose the government’s failures until justice is served for the farmers of the state.
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