Former Speaker demands for release of water for paddy fields immediately

Pocharam Srinivas Reddy warned that the State government will be responsible for any decline in crop production, due to delayed release of water.

Hyderabad: Former Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy lashed out at the State government over its failure to release necessary irrigation water to agriculture fields. He warned that the State government will be responsible for any decline in crop production, due to delayed release of water.

Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan here on Friday, Srinivas Reddy emphasised the need to optimally utilise the irrigation facilities available to ensure that there is no scarcity of food in the State as well as the country. While the previous BRS government constructed multiple irrigation projects to utilise the Godavari River water and succeeded in increasing the paddy cultivation from 30 lakh tonnes to two crore tonnes in less than 10 years, he accused the current Congress government of not releasing necessary water nearly two months after the Yasangi crop season commenced.

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“Farmers are suffering unnecessarily, despite the presence of adequate water in different reservoirs under Kaleshwaram project. If water is not released in time, paddy production will decline which could result in a food crisis. This government is proving to be good for nothing, but making allegations and blaming others,” he said.

The former Speaker found fault with the State government’s proposal to obtain 30 tmcft water from Koyna project in Maharashtra. He pointed out that the Koyna project is about 1,300 km away from Telangana and even if 30 tmc is released downstream, Telangana will receive less than 15 tmc due to evaporation.