Hyderabad: Telangana Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday, December 29, said the Congress government is committed to completing the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) with its original water allocation of 90 TMC, a day after Bharat Rashtriya Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao (KTR) accused the ruling party of pushing the project back “into distress.”
Speaking to the media, Reddy said the ruling Congress is adhering to the government order (GO) issued by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government on August 18, 2022, which proposed 90 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water for the project. The GO stated that 45 TMC water will come from savings in minor irrigation schemes and another 45 TMC from Telangana‘s share of Andhra Pradesh’s diversion of Godavari water.
“The BRS initiated the PRLIS project and sought 90 TMC in their own submissions to the Centre. We are following that same GO without any changes,” Reddy said, accusing the Opposition party of spreading misinformation.
The Irrigation Minister added that the BRS government had halted work on key links such as Narlapur to Edula and the distributary canals, despite its potential to irrigate over 12.3 lakh acre in drought-prone districts such as Mahabubnagar, Rangareddy, and Vikarabad.
What KTR said
BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Sunday, December 28, accused the Congress government of reversing the development achieved in the Palamuru district and pushing it back “into distress and large-scale migration.”
“Palamuru was made green and prosperous under KCR’s leadership. Today, without even lifting a handful of soil, Chief Minister Revant Reddy is indulging in irresponsible and abusive rhetoric. Congress has once again turned Palamuru into a migration district by stalling projects and drying up irrigation,” KTR said.
The BRS working president claimed that nearly 90 per cent of the Palamuru project works were completed during the previous government when his father and party president K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) was the chief minister.
‘Cong will compete project’
The Irrigation Minister criticised the BRS for prioritising the Kaleshwaram project while allocating only Rs 27,000 crore to PRLIS over 10 years, “which escalated to Rs 55,000 crore by the time the detailed project report was submitted to the Central Water Commission (CWC) after a seven-year delay.”
“Despite spending Rs 27,000 crore, no water was supplied to a single acre,” he alleged.
“The BRS took 10 years and failed to complete the project. We will finish it and deliver water to Palamuru,” Reddy asserted.
