Harish Rao challenges Revanth Reddy to hand over Irrigation portfolio for three months to revive Kaleshwaram project

BRS leader T. Harish Rao has challenged Telangana CM Revanth Reddy to hand over the Irrigation portfolio for three months, vowing to quit politics if he fails to fill reservoirs like Yellampalli by utilizing Godavari floodwaters

Hyderabad: Stepping up the BRS offensive over the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, former Irrigation Minister and BRSLP deputy leader T Harish Rao on Wednesday challenged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to hand over the Irrigation portfolio to him for three months. He vowed to demonstrate how the State’s reservoirs could be filled by utilising available Godavari River floodwaters.

“If I fail to lift water to Yellampalli within three months, I will quit politics,” he declared, asserting that he had served as Irrigation Minister for 13 years and was prepared to prove his claims.

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Delivering a detailed presentation on Kaleshwaram project at Telangana Bhavan on Wednesday, Harish Rao gave a point-by-point rebuttal to the Chief Minister’s allegations. Countering the BRS’s claims one lakh cusecs water being discharged wastely downstream without repairing Medigadda barrage, Revanth Reddy declared that no water was available in Godavari River due to rainfall deficiency.

The BRSLP deputy leader said the Congress government failed to utilise abundant flood flows despite drought-like conditions and the looming El Nino threat. He stated that with more than 90,000 cusecs of water flowing at Medigadda and substantial inflows at other barrages, the government should have immediately operated the Kannepalli and Devadula pump houses to fill reservoirs across Telangana.

Accusing the Congress government of criminal negligence, Harish Rao said water meant for Telangana farmers was being allowed to flow downstream instead of being lifted and stored for irrigation. He stated that nearly 90 per cent of tanks in the erstwhile Warangal district had dried up while the government had failed to operate even the available pumps.

Continuing his attack, the former Minister accused the government of deliberately neglecting the Kaleshwaram project to discredit former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao with political motive. He maintained that Chandrashekhar Rao created the infrastructure required to lift and distribute water, but the present Congress government was unwilling to use it.

Harish Rao also challenged Revanth Reddy to produce documentary evidence supporting the latter’s claim that the erstwhile Congress governments had secured Maharashtra’s approval for constructing the proposed Tummidihatti project at a Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 152 metres. “If such an agreement exists, make it public and I will resign immediately,” he said. He demanded that Revanth Reddy apologise to the people of Telangana if he failed to produce the document.

The former Minister questioned why the project was never executed despite the Congress being in power simultaneously at the Centre, in Maharashtra and undivided Andhra Pradesh for nearly 10 years. He stated that Rs 2,328 crore had been misappropriated in the name of the surveys and mobilisation advances for the proposed Tummidihatti project without any tangible work.

He rejected the Chief Minister’s criticism of consultancy firm WAPCOS, pointing out that it was the Congress-led UPA government that had originally engaged the agency and that the present State government too had continued to rely on it.

Harish Rao also dismissed the government’s claims regarding technical objections to Kaleshwaram project. He said the committee of retired engineers had not opposed the Medigadda barrage but had only suggested routing water from Medigadda to Yellampalli before pumping it to Mid Manair. He asserted that all statutory clearances for the Kaleshwaram project had been obtained.

Alleging that the government was releasing water downstream instead of using it to save standing crops, he said the BRS would continue exposing what he termed misinformation on the irrigation project with documentary evidence.