Harish Rao slams Congress govt for letting Godavari water flow into sea

Former minister T Harish Rao accused the Congress government of “criminal negligence” for allowing Godavari water from Yellampalli to flow into the sea. He alleged the delay in operating KLIP pumps was deliberate to malign BRS and warned of a farmers’ agitation.

Siddipet: Former Minister T Harish Rao on Sunday termed the Congress government’s decision to allow Godavari water from Yellampalli reservoir into the Bay of Bengal as “criminal negligence”.

Speaking to reporters, Harish Rao alleged that the government was deliberately not lifting water into reservoirs under the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) to malign former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and the BRS for political gain.

---

Citing inflows at Kadam reservoir that crossed 1.5 lakh cusecs on Sunday morning, he said the government could lift 2 TMC ft of water daily from Yellampalli by operating the Nandimedaram pump house. Though there were seven motors available to lift water from Yellampalli to Mid-Manair, the Congress government was operating only three, he charged.

Harish Rao urged the government to pump at least one TMC ft of water from Mid-Manair into Annapurna, Ranganayaka Sagar, Mallanna Sagar, Kondapochamma Sagar and Baswapur reservoirs to meet farmers’ Yasangi needs. He said the cultivated area had already fallen during Vanakalam due to the government’s negligence.

“They can punish BRS leaders if they want, but not the farmers,” he remarked, demanding that the government lift the flood flow canal gates of SRSP to divert water into Mid-Manair. He pointed out that power supply was not a constraint since all plants on the Krishna river were in operation.

Warning of agitation, he said, “Unless the government starts the pumps, BRS will storm the place mobilising thousands of farmers to switch them on.” He accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of attempting to portray Kaleshwaram as a failure by delaying water pumping.

The former minister said he had written to Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy a week ago, alerting him of IMD’s flood predictions in the Godavari, but no action was taken. “All KLIP reservoirs have gone bone dry,” he said.

He also accused the government of wasting Krishna water by failing to tap it. Many irrigation tanks under the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project in Nalgonda district and the Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Project had remained empty, he said. “They even failed to provide water under Devadula Phase-III despite starting the motors last summer,” he added.