Kolishetty Venkateshwarlu
venkat.k.warlu@gmail.com
Hyderabad
Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister Captain N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that he is ready to fight against Pakistan if there is a full-scale confrontation and if there is a need for that.
During a chit-chat with journalists on Friday at the Gandhi Bhavan, Uttam said the disputes between India and Pakistan cannot be solved unless action is taken on the Kashmir issue.
“My personal opinion is that this problem cannot be solved unless Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is returned to India. The Indian Army’s counter-attack against Pakistan in Jammu was right. If war continues, Pakistan will collapse.
No third country may come forward to intervene,” he said.
Uttam said that he joined the IAF at the age of 16 and was a Mig-21 pilot in 1982. “I also flew the Mig-23, whose speed is 2.5 times that of sound. I was posted at Uttarlai, Srinagar and Amritsar and became a pilot at the age of 20,” Uttam said.
He said that killing tourists after asking about their religion was shocking. “The TRF is the terror wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The right thing to do is to teach Pakistan a lesson. Rafale jets and Kamikaze drones were used during Operation Sindoor. Rafales operated entirely from Indian territory,” he said.
Reacting to the opposition’s criticism regarding ministers using helicopters, Uttam said that while using helicopters 300 litres of fuel is used per hour. The expense involved in using a helicopter is Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.20 lakh for going anywhere in Telangana. Usually, three to four Ministers use one helicopter. If four ministers go by road, the expense would exceed Rs 1.20 lakh and will take a lot of time too, he said.
“We are using helicopters to fulfil public needs. The BRS government also used to hire helicopters. I reviewed the Palamuru-Rangareddy Project in half a day using a helicopter. If I had gone by road, it would have taken four days. Ministers use helicopters only to discharge their duties fast,” he said.
