Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and several ministers said it was a shame that former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao was not in the Assembly when the issue of river water, the leitmotif for the Telangana statehood movement, was being discussed on Monday.
“KCR, whose political career received a new lease of life with his election as an MP from the district in 2009, instead of coming to the Assembly and backing the demand for 68 per cent share of Krishna water, chose to skip the debate in the House,” Revanth Reddy said, intervening in a discussion on the resolution to oppose handing over projects on the river to the Centre.
To BRS leader T. Harish Rao claiming that the government had handed over the projects to the Krishna River Management Board (KRM) and citing statements by officials, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said the handover had been categorically denied by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and irrigation minister Uttam Kumar Reddy in the House.
Intervening in the discussion, Bhatti: “The engineer-in-chief Muralidhar Rao who said that the projects will be handed over to the KRMB has been sacked as he had acted as an agent of the BRS. He was kept in service 10 years after he retired.”
“Our CM and irrigation minister have denied the handover. The moot question the BRS has to answer is, are they are backing the resolution seeking 68 per cent of the Krishna water of 811 tmc ft of water allotted to undivided AP. The party should also clarify whether they accept the contents of the letter written by then irrigation secretary Smita Sabharwal, who was in the Chief Minister’s Office.”
Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said that the BRS should seek an apology before holding its meeting on the KRMB issue in Nalgonda on Tuesday. “The injustice meted out to the district has resulted in Congress MLAs winning by a margin of around 60,000 to 70,000 votes. Jagadish Reddy, who hails from the district, skipped the House as he has lost face. The people are forced to drink fluoride water again,” Venkat Reddy said.
MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy said the BRS government had constructed projects by borrowing money without having assured water for them. “We will seek our share of water from the KRMB and fight with the Centre as we don’t face allegations of corruption. The BRS did not allow anyone to give suggestions to them.”
He said that the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel project, if completed, would have irrigated five lakh acres if Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,000 crores was spent on it. We have now taken up the project. The Udayasamudram project will irrigate one lakh acres if completed and we had sought its completion multiple times,” Rajgopal Reddy said.
“The Dindi and Palamuru irrigation projects, it was said, would bring in 30 tmc ft water and had villages were vacated without giving compensation under the 2013 land acquisition Act. Land worth Rs 30 lakh to Rs 40 lakh per acre were taken for Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh. The farmers were left on the roads but the projects were not completed. There is no plan on where water will be brought to the projects. What would Harish Rao say on this,” he asked.
“Projects were taken up for the sake of contractors and thousands of crores were paid without any assured water. They were taken up to take the people for a ride,” Rajgopal Reddy said. “The Palamuru Rangareddy lift irrigation project was designed to draw 2 tmc ft of water for 45 days, where is the 90 TMC water? It is evident now only 45 tmc ft water would come if the allocation made for medium irrigation projects is taken.”
The 15 tmc ft Kondapochamma project was constructed to provide water to the farmhouse of Chandrashekar Rao, the Rajgopal Reddy, Congress legislator from Munugodu, said
