Krishna Projects: BRS wants all party delegation to Delhi

Congress government, by conceding the operational control of the projects to the KRMB, had left Telangana with its throat slit, said Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: Demanding the State government to take an all-party delegation to the Centre to mount pressure on the Ministry of Jal Shakti for restoration of its rights over Krishna basin projects, BRS leader and former minister S Niranjan Reddy on Saturday said that by conceding both the NSP and Srisailam projects along with 15 outlets under them to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), the State government had put at stake the interests of the State that were safeguarded by the BRS government for 10 years.

Addressing a joint news conference along with MLA K Venkatesh, MLC MS Prabhakar and other leaders at Telangana Bhavan, he said the Congress government, by conceding the operational control of the projects to the KRMB, had left the State with its throat slit. Though the government was coming out with lame excuses now, the decision of the government was a serious setback and would amount to meting out gross injustice to the districts of erstwhile Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda and Khammam.

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If the Ministry of Jal Shakti that held the high-level meeting with the irrigation secretaries and officials of the two States on January 17 in New Delhi, wrongly recorded the minutes of the meeting, the State officials should have issued a clarification immediately.

The Congress Party had never stood for the interests of the State. It did not oppose when the seven revenue mandals of the State were merged with Andhra Pradesh. It did not raise its voice even when the State was deprived of Lower Sileru Hydel project. Despite being a national party, it had failed play a decisive role when the State under the BRS rule was fighting for its due.

The BRS government had defied the diktats of the Centre what may come, when it mattered the interests of the State. It did not yield to the Centre even on the issues pertaining to the riparian share of the State in Krishna and Godavari waters. The State government decision to hand over the control of the Krishna basin projects to the KRMB would impact its entitled drawls from projects such as the Palamuru Rangareddy and the Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme also. They may have to forego its right on the low cost power also. AP would stand to gain if the irrigation projects were left in the control the KRMB, they felt.