Heated Argument Over Kaleshwaram Expenditure, Improvement in TS Irrigation Sector
Hyderabad: Heated arguments were witnessed between the ruling Congress and opposition BRS leaders in the Assembly on Saturday after Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy presented the White Paper on the irrigation sector.
Uttam Kumar Reddy, time and again, tried to assert that the earlier BRS government had ruined the sector with poor allocation of funds in the Budget, heavy corruption in the execution of projects and compromising on the quality of works.
He said that the Kaleshwaram project, about which former CM and BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao keeps boasting, was just a ruse for KCR to swindle public funds on a humungous scale.
The redesigning of the project was done only to increase the cost of construction without ensuring that it would provide irrigation to a good number of acres in the state, he said.
He said that the expenditure to make land cultivable in Telangana had increased to Rs 11 lakh during the BRS rule, which is 12 times more than the earlier cost. He said that the BRS government had spent Rs 1.81 lakh crore on the irrigation projects but failed to increase the number of arable land in the same proportion. Over Rs 1.75 lakh crore would be needed to complete all the pending irrigation projects in the state, Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
The Opposition leaders also tried to give a fitting reply to the allegations levelled by the Congress government.
Former irrigation minister and BRS senior leader T. Harish Rao pointed out that the figures relating to Kaleshwaram project differed at different places in the White Paper. He said that the White Paper seemed to have focused only on slinging mud on the previous government but did not suggest a proper way forward.
He termed the White Paper as a False Paper as it was replete with ‘many lies’.
While the Congress government highlighted the irregularities and corruption during the last 10-year rule of the BRS, Harish Rao focused on the Congress’ rule in undivided Andhra Pradesh and said that the Congress lacked commitment to the welfare of Telangana farmers.
At one point of time, he even sang songs written by several revolutionaries like Gaddar about the injustice meted out to the Telangana people under the Congress rule in Andhra Pradesh.
Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy wondered where had KCR gone, despite claiming to be complete all the irrigation projects in Nalgonda district by constant monitoring, sitting in a chair at the projects’ site.
Harish Rao was interrupted by minister Jupally Krishna Rao and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka while giving explanation about the irrigation projects.
