Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) has warned the state government that he, along with 50,000 farmers from the ayacut areas of the Kaleshwaram project will switch on the pumps at Kannepally (Laxmi) pump house to lift water and irrigate the water-starved lands of Telangana, if the government failed to lift the water before August 2.
KTR led a delegation of BRS MLAs and MLCs to the Kannepally pump house and Medigadda barrage to analyse the flow of the Godavari River at Indaram on Friday, July 26.
Speaking to the media, he alleged that the state government was hatching a criminal conspiracy by not lifting Godavari water from the Kaleshwaram project, only to defame BRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) by blaming him for the failure of the project.
He said that the BRS delegation visited the project sites on the instruction of KCR.
“The engineers informed me that there was no problem in lifting the water from the Kannepally pump house, and told me that an availability of 30,000 cusecs was enough to lift the water. 10 lakh cusecs of water are going to waste downstream. The state government has no intention of irrigating the farmers’ lands. It only takes two days for the water to reach Mid-Manair dam, if the pumps are put to work,” he said.
He mentioned that the water from the Kannepally pump house could fill not only mid-Manair, Anthagiri Pochamma Sagar, Ranganayaka Sagar, Mallanna Sagar, and Kondapochamma Sagar, but also provide for Singur, Nizamsagar, and Sriramsagar, which are dependent on the Kaleshwaram project.
“Kaleshwaram project is also a major source of drinking water for the twin cities. But because of Congress government not starting the pumps, the city-dwellers are getting drinking water once in three days,” claimed KTR.
He warned that if the state government failed to fill the reservoirs under the project before the end of the Assembly sessions, the farmers from Palair, Kodad, Suryapet, Tungaturthi, Palakurthi, Mahabubabad, Dornakal, Adilabad, Huzurabad, Husnabad, Gajwel and Bhuvanagiri will descend at Kannepally pump house and start the pumps themselves.
