Former Minister calls return of PRLIS DPR atrocious

Former Telangana Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy criticised the Centre’s decision to return the PRLIS DPR, calling it atrocious. He blamed the Congress government for delays, demanded immediate approval and sought an all-party delegation to Delhi to pursue the project

Hyderabad: Former Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy on Monday termed the Centre’s decision to return the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) as atrocious. He blamed the Congress government for its negligence and failure to obtain pending clearances for the project.

He said Telangana had already allocated 90 TMCft of Krishna River water from its share for PRLIS and demanded that the Centre immediately approve the DPR. He urged the State government to send an all-party delegation to Delhi to pursue the approval.

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In a statement, Niranjan Reddy said the Congress and BJP were engaged in a hypocritical drama over PRLIS and accused the State government of placing Telangana’s water interests in the hands of Andhra officials. He also questioned why the Centre had no objections to Polavaram-Banakacherla, while raising issues over PRLIS.

He alleged that eight BJP and eight Congress MPs from Telangana had failed to raise their voice in Parliament on the State’s irrigation projects. He said all approvals except hydrology had been secured during the BRS regime where the remaining hydrology issue was before the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II for consideration.