FM Says BRS Irrigation Policy Suited to Contractors, Probe On

 Hyderabad: The irrigation sector is in “very serious trouble” with the BRS government pursuing a policy of benefiting contractors. Instead of making “rapid strides in irrigation sector in the last ten years… the ill-conceived policies of the past government” has not seen in happen in the state which should have “flourished with lush green fields,” said Deputy Chief Minister and finance minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Saturday.

Presenting the first budget of the new Congress government, Bhatti said this year, the government was setting aside Rs 28,024 crore for the irrigation sector. During his vote-on-account Budget speech in the Assembly, Bhatti made it clear that there was “absolutely no doubt that previous government’s decisions and behaviour was marked with ignoring advice from irrigation experts landing the sector into “very serious trouble.”

He said the BRS government’s approach became a bane for Telangana state as the party had pursued a policy aimed at benefiting contractors. “We have a responsibility to investigate and bring to book the misdemeanours of persons who indulged in this faulty and corrupt policy. We promised people that a thorough inquiry will be made into the quality of construction, ill-conceived designs and corruption involved in the projects of Annaram, Medigadda and Sundilla barrages. Our action will be in tune with what we promised to the people,” Bhatti declared.

The minister also said that the Congress government was committed to getting the state’s rightful share of water in Krishna and Godavari rivers. For this, “we will not shy away from fighting for justice and will not spare any effort to protect the rights of the people of Telangana state,” Bhatti said.

He said the government would take those projects which can be completed with less expenditure and bring more land under irrigation. The projects being considered under this proposal are the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Srisailam Left Bank Canal, and the Mahatma Gandhi Kalwakurthy, Jawahar Nettempadu, Rajiv Bhima, J. Chokka Rao Devadula, and Koilsagar lift irrigation scheme, along with the SRSP-Indiramma Flood Flow Canal, Komaram Bheem and Chinna Kaleshwaram projects.

He said the Congress government was committed to completing the Dr B.R. Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella Project, which will irrigate the northern regions of the state.