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The Hindu
24-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
BRS ridicules Irrigation Minister's repeated attempt to malign Kaleshwaram project with lies
HYDERABAD Senior leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and former Minister for Irrigation T. Harish Rao has ridiculed Minister for Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy for his 'repeated attempts to spread misinformation on Kaleshwaram Project with the belief that people will believe a lie as a fact if told repeatedly'. In a statement, Mr. Harish Rao alleged on Saturday that spreading lies and misinformation on the Kalaeshwaram Project had become the single-point agenda for Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy, as also Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. He questioned the rationale of Mr. Uttam Reddy terming the project as a 'white elephant' while making use of several pump houses and reservoirs constructed as part of the project. Along with documents Mr. Rao reiterated that the Central Water Commission had written to the State government on February 18, 2015 and March 4, 2015 on the non-availability of 160 tmc ft of water planned to be used for the earlier Pranahita-Chevella project at the proposed Tummidihatti Barrage site. Besides, then Maharashtra Chief Minister had written to his Andhra Pradesh counterpart on their opposition to the barrage at Tummidihatti. The Congress government had never attempted to work out an agreement with Maharashtra by convincing the latter for the barrage, though the same party was in power in A.P., Maharashtra and at the Centre from 2007 to 2014. It was the Congress government that had given ₹2,328 crore mobilisation advance to contractors even before taking up the project work. The estimated cost of Pranahita-Chevella started with ₹17,875 crore initially was first revised to ₹38,500 crore in less than two years, and later to ₹40,300 crore. He stated that the Congress government had spent only ₹3,780 crore on Pranahita-Chevella works, including land acquisition against the claims of Mr. Uttam Reddy that ₹10,000 crore was spent. Mr. Harish Rao sought to know why the Congress government had not constructed Tummidihatti Barrage and a gravity canal from Tummidihatti to Yellampally reservoir from 2007 to 2014. He stated that water storage capacity was increased to 141 tmc ft in Kaleshwaram from 16 tmc ft in Pranahita-Chevella. The Kaleshwaram project had created a new ayacut of 3,04,766 acres, including 98,570 acres directly, 39,146 acres by filling 456 minor irrigation tanks with Kaleshwaram canals and another 1,67,050 acres by filling 2,143 minor irrigation tanks with Kaleshwaram water under SRSP Stage-I and Stage-II. 17,08,230 acres of ayacut was stabilised under SRSP Stage-I (Lower Manair Dam), Stage-II and Nizamsagar project and another 20,576 acres under 66 checkdams by diverting Kaleshwaram water to Kudellivagu and Haldivagu.
The Hindu
11-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Harish Rao flays Uttam Reddy for misleading people on clearances for SRLIS
HYDERABAD Senior leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao has criticised the present Minister for Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy for misleading people in the matter of the previous government's efforts to secure approvals and clearances for Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Scheme (SRLIS), including from the Central Water Commission (CWC). Mr. Harish Rao reminded Mr. Uttam Reddy that it was on October 30, 2018 the then BRS government had submitted the detailed project report of SRLIS to the CWC for appraisal and clearances and it was in October 2021 the CWC had accorded the hydrology clearance to the project stating that the availability of water for the project would be 113.795 tmc ft and of which 70.4 tmc ft could be used for the project, including irrigation, drinking and industrial needs. He also released a copy of the CWC letter on water availability and hydrology clearance. In a statement, Mr. Harish Rao said on Sunday that it was the Congress leaders of the Telangana region in the combined Andhra Pradesh who had remained mute spectators to the then rulers' taking (diverting) away Krishna waters to the non-basin areas at the cost of needs of the in-basin areas in Telangana. Even the present Congress government too was following the same by mortgaging the State's interests to A.P. as some leaders' measure of gratification. He accused the Congress leaders of creating hurdles for the project by filing cases in the National Green Tribunal and courts and despite such obstacles the BRS government could complete 90% of the works. Mr. Uttam Reddy's statement that the previous government had failed to secure are clearances to SRLIS was indicating his lack of understanding. He said it was the inefficiency of the present government which could not give water for irrigation even one acre ayacut afresh during the last 18 months. The BRS leader sought to know whether Rajiv Sagar and Indira Sagar projects were not taken up to benefit more to A.P. rather than Telangana and the SRLIS would cover the 3.33 lakh acres ayacut proposed under the two projects. Compared to the two projects taken up by the previous Congress government, the SRLIS was taken up to avail 70.4 tmc ft water against 33 tmc ft for the previous projects. Similarly, the pipeline length for SRLIS had come down to 8.56 km against 77 km for the previous project without any inter-State issues.
