BRS betrayed TG in Krishna, Godavari water disputes: Uttam Accuses the party of spreading lies to defame govt

Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the BRS of spreading lies to defame the Congress government.
He also blamed the BRS government for failing to protect Telangana’s water rights and causing massive damage to the irrigation sector.
Addressing a press conference at the Jala Soudha here on Thursday, along with Ministers Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Ponnam Prabhakar, he ridiculed the BRS leaders’ criticism of the Congress government.
“BRS leaders are repeatedly lying to cover up the failures of the BRS admin. Under the BRS the irrigation sector was riddled with scams and irregularities. The BRS government borrowed over Rs 1 lakh crore for the Kaleshwaram Project, which was plagued by faulty design, poor construction and zero maintenance. The Medigadda Barrage, which the BRS described as the ‘heart of Kaleshwaram,’ collapsed during their rule, and instead of admitting failure, KCR, Harish and other BRS leaders shamelessly claim that only one pillar had collapsed,” Uttam said.
He revealed that the BRS government had spent Rs 1.81 lakh crore on irrigation projects but had failed to achieve any significant expansion in irrigated area. The funds were borrowed through high-interest, short-term loans, placing a huge financial burden on Telangana.
Despite spending Rs 27,000 crore on the Palamuru-Rangareddy Project and Rs 9,000 crore on the Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project, not a single acre of land received irrigation water. Long-pending projects like Devadula, Kalwakurthy, Nettampadu, Bhima, Koyal Sagar, SLBC and Dindi remained incomplete. The Kaleshwaram Project alone, which consumed nearly Rs 1 lakh crore, delivered minimal irrigated area and suffered from structural failures, Uttam said.
“The BRS government did not construct irrigation projects for farmers. They built them to fill their pockets. They destroyed the sector in terms of manpower, HR policies, water allocation, ayacut expansion and approvals,” he said.