PNS|Hyderabad
Former minister Harish Rao launched a sharp and comprehensive attack against the Congress government on Friday, accusing it of deliberately neglecting the irrigation sector and sabotaging Telangana’s hard-earned progress in water projects. Speaking after releasing two books — Kaleshwaram Project: Questions, Criticism, Distortions, Clarifications and A Decade of Telangana’s Irrigation Journey — written by irrigation expert Sridhar Deshpande at a programme organised by Telangana Vikasa Samithi in Hyderabad, Harish Rao rebutted criticism against the flagship Kaleshwaram Project and defended BRS’s decade-long record in transforming the irrigation sector.
He was joined by former ministers Niranjan Reddy and other public intellectuals, officials, engineers and Telangana activists at the event.
Harish Rao began by accusing the Congress of spreading distortions about Kaleshwaram, driven by political malice. He pointed out that former Chief Minister KCR had taken a far-sighted decision to build the third TMC at Kaleshwaram for future needs, ensuring water security for fifty years. “Sri Sailam and Nagarjuna Sagar once used to receive floods every year, but upper riparian states have now built projects and stored water, making such natural inflows rare,” he explained.
Refuting the allegation that the project was redesigned for commissions and contractors, Harish Rao reminded that the original proposal at Tummidi Hatti was rejected by Maharashtra due to submergence concerns. Telangana, after state formation, negotiated diplomatically, with KCR personally appealing to Maharashtra’s leadership. As a result, the project was redesigned at Medigadda with Central Water Commission’s clearance to utilise 240 TMC. “Survey reports from WAPCOS and permissions from CWC are all there. No irregularity,” he asserted.
Harish Rao rubbished claims that gravity flow was sacrificed and said Tummidi Hatti too would have needed lifts. “Spreading such misinformation is unfortunate,” he said, pointing out that engineers and official committees had never objected to Medigadda barrage itself.
Listing the project’s achievements, Harish Rao said Kaleshwaram has created 18.27 lakh acres of new ayacut and stabilised another 18.87 lakh acres, resulting in a total irrigated area of 37 lakh acres. “Kaleshwaram was built with lowest escalation compared to other national projects like Nagarjunasagar or Srisailam whose costs shot up by five to ten times,” he added.
Turning to Congress, Harish Rao said the grand old party wasted seven years before Telangana with mere surveys and advances, releasing Rs. 2,600 crore without progress. “Today, they shamelessly allege corruption against us,” he retorted.
He also slammed Congress for undermining the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project, which was left incomplete despite 90 per cent of the works being over. “If they just finished the small portion pending in Package-3, water would have flowed this monsoon,” he remarked. Instead, he accused them of pushing Palamuru into uncertainty.
Harish Rao then charged Congress with surrendering Telangana’s Krishna water rights. He said Andhra Pradesh was going ahead with its designs to construct the Bollampalli Reservoir and illegally divert Godavari waters. “The current government even appointed Adityanath Das, who worked against Telangana’s interests, as irrigation advisor,” he alleged.
He also accused Andhra Pradesh of conspiring to render the SLBC tunnel useless and said that haste by Congress in digging there cost eight lives. “Today SLBC is stuck in limbo, like Telangana’s irrigation hopes under Congress,” he remarked bitterly.
Defending the BRS government’s record, Harish Rao said projects like Mission Kakatiya, Bhakta Ramadasu, Tumilla, Devadula, Sitarama and Nagarkurnool modernisation had changed the face of irrigation. “We brought water to over 50 lakh acres. Congress only brought water to 5.75 lakh acres in ten years,” he pointed out.
Harish Rao concluded by urging intellectuals, employees and activists to read Sridhar Deshpande’s book to understand the facts. “We will answer Congress’s lies with facts and the people’s verdict. Sridhar Deshpande has done a great service by recording the truth. Telangana thanks him,” Harish Rao said emotionally.
