Centre hijacks Telangana’s Mission Bhagiratha

Hyderabad: It can’t get more blatant than this! The BJP government at the Centre seems to have no qualms in claiming credit for the success of “Mission Bhagiratha”, a unique piped water supply scheme conceived and successfully implemented by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao across Telangana.

The union Ministry of Jal Shakthi, in a tweet on Saturday, declared: “Telangana, famous for its waterfalls, has been provided with 54 lakhs tap water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission, bringing a brighter future full of hope and prosperity to the citizens of the State.” This without contributing even a rupee towards the project!

This is desperation at its peak of the BJP government to somehow show the TRS government in poor light, particularly since Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself launched the flagship programme of the State government in August , 2016, when he also lavished praise on Chandrashekhar Rao.

Complimenting the State government for the launch of Mission Bhagiratha and for the steps taken to fulfill the aspirations of the people, Modi had then said that whenever the former met him, he always spoke about Telangana’s development and water related issues.

The brazen claim to credit for implementation of Mission Bhagiratha is all the more ironic since the Centre completely ignored the recommendations of Niti Aayog to sanction Rs 19,000 crore to the Telangana government for what has then described as a drinking water project of a scale that was never been attempted before in the country.

Mission Bhagiratha, in fact, is a macro execution of Chandrashekhar Rao’s pilot project he implemented on a smaller scale in Siddipet in the ‘90s when he was a legislator. The Siddipet drinking water project costing Rs 60 crore ensured supply of piped water to households in 180 villages that formed part of Chandrashekhar Rao’s Siddipet constituency.

MAUD Minister K T Rama Rao and Finance Minister T Harish Rao were quick to respond to the union Ministry’s Saturday tweet, and slammed the BJP government for its blatant attempts to claim credit for a State scheme.

In a strong counter, Rama Rao tweeted “Govt of India shamelessly misappropriates Telangana’s flagship project “Mission Bhagiratha” & makes it its own! When Niti Ayog recommend Rs.19,000 crore be granted for Telangana’s Mission Bhagratha, not a paisa is given as support but now this IP infringement by union Govt!! Shame on you NPA Govt (sic).”

Harish Tao, taking objection to the Central government’s false claims, tweeted: “While Telangana Government did all the work, the Central Government is claiming credit and campaigning about the work. It is shameful of the Central Government to claim credit after it did not approve the Niti Aayog recommendations to sanction Rs.19,000 crore to Mission Bhagiratha.”

He went on to add: “Without providing any assistance to Telangana Government’s programmes, the Central Government is stooping to a new low by falsely claiming credit for the State Government’s initiatives.”