Harish Rao blasts Congress govt over Sitarama Project

Harish Rao dismissed Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy’s claims that the permission for the Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project was pending

Hyderabad: Former Minister and senior BRS leader T Harish Rao slammed the Congress government for deliberately misleading the public and jeopardising Telangana’s hard-won irrigation gains for political convenience. He urged the Congress government to stop its propaganda, acknowledge BRS’s achievements in irrigation sector, and complete the pending works with sincerity.

In a strong counter, Harish Rao dismissed Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy’s claims that the permission for the Sitarama Lift Irrigation Project was pending. He charged that despite clearances from the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Hydrology department for the Sitarama project, the Congress leaders were peddling misinformation. He stated that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the project was submitted in 2018.

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“In 2021, the CWC confirmed that 113.795 TMC of water was available, of which 70.4 TMC was earmarked for irrigating 6.74 lakh acres across Khammam, Bhadradri Kothagudem, and Mahabubabad districts, under the project,” he said.

The former Minister stated that, except for the TAC (Technical Advisory Committee) clearance, all other approvals have been secured. “Instead of sabotaging the project with baseless allegations, Uttam Kumar Reddy should focus on completing the remaining work,” he advised. He reminded that it was the Congress that attempted to stall the project by filing cases before the National Green Tribunal and delaying environmental clearances.

“The BRS government completed 90 per cent of the Sitarama project despite hurdles from both the Centre and the Congress,” he said, contrasting this with the 50-year Congress rule that he said has failed to ensure even basic irrigation infrastructure.

Harish Rao said the Congress was sacrificing Telangana’s water interests to benefit Andhra Pradesh, similar to the united Andhra Pradesh era, when projects like Rajiv Sagar and Indira Sagar, with flawed designs and inter-State complications, failed to serve Telangana’s farmers. “The Congress government could not irrigate even a single acre so far, but its leaders are shamelessly posing for photographs at the projects constructed by the previous BRS government,” he said.