KTR slams Revanth Reddy for abandoning Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme
BRS working president KT Rama Rao blamed Telangana CM Revanth Reddy for the neglect of the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, accusing the Congress government of stalling projects, facilitating industrial land misuse, and reducing reservations for Backward Classes
Hyderabad: Holding Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy squarely responsible for the continued hardships of people in the Palamuru region, including his home district Mahabubnagar, BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Thursday said the Congress government had abandoned the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, a flagship project that was the top priority of the previous BRS regime.
Speaking after welcoming several BJP and Congress leaders from Kalwakurthy constituency into the BRS under the leadership of former MLA Jaipal Yadav at Telangana Bhavan, Rama Rao launched a fierce attack on Revanth Reddy for the neglect that the key project was subjected to during the past two years. Over 90 per cent of the works on the project were completed by the previous regime under K Chandrashekhar Rao’s leadership.
“We built five massive reservoirs – Narlapur, Edula, Vattem, Karivena and Uddandapur, installed and switched on the pumps, and ensured water actually reached the agriculture fields of Palamuru. But today, Revanth Reddy, who keeps calling himself ‘Palamuru Bidda’, has not lifted even a single drop of water for the region despite inheriting a project that was 90 per cent complete,” he charged, stating that the Congress government had deliberately stalled the remaining 10 per cent work, thereby denying irrigation water to lakhs of acres and pushing the once-flourishing region back towards distress migration.
“Because of K Chandrashekhar Rao’s commitment to change the agrarian profile of the State, the project implementation was fast tracked. The status of Palamuru had changed from a symbol of migration into a land of reverse migration by providing assured irrigation and 24-hour free power. Within just two years, Revanth Reddy has destroyed all that progress. Pumps are lying idle, reservoirs are gathering dust, and farmers are in despair, all because the remaining 10 per cent work that could have been finished in months is being deliberately delayed,” he said, also mocking the Chief Minister’s habit of merely renaming projects built by the previous government after his father-in-law.
“Renaming is easy. Completing projects and delivering water to farmers is hard, and that is something this government has completely failed at,” he said.
Asserting that the neglect of PRLIS has become a symbol of Congress’ betrayal of Palamuru, he declared that the people of the region would teach the ruling party a fitting lesson for betraying the farmers who were on the verge of permanent prosperity under the BRS regime.
Lashing out at the Congress government for its failures and corruption in the State, he alleged that Revanth Reddy had orchestrated another massive scam under the guise of the Hyderabad Industrial Land Transfer Policy. He criticised him for focusing on looting assets, starting with the Musi riverfront lands, followed by the Regional Ring Road (RRR) and UoH lands, and now targeting industrial lands in Hyderabad.
Expressing anger that lands originally allotted to industrialists at low rates by the government to create employment were now being converted for real estate purposes, Rama Rao stated that Revanth Reddy was transferring industrial land for non-industrial purposes at dirt-cheap rates facilitating his own people to build apartments and villas on these industrial lands.
“He is handing over nearly 9,300 acres of land to private individuals, effectively mortgaging public assets worth Rs 5 lakh crore for the benefit of 500 to 600 people,” he alleged, asking whose property the Chief Minister thought he was giving away and claimed that half of the proceeds from this deal would go into the pockets of Revanth Reddy and Congress leaders. BRS demanded the immediate withdrawal of this policy that alienates public land to private entities.
Rama Rao also slammed the Congress party for cheating Backward Classes. He recalled that Congress promised 42 per cent reservation for BCs if voted to power but had now deceived them. “While the previous government provided 24 per cent reservation, the current Congress government has reduced it to just 17 per cent,” he pointed out, calling upon the BC community to teach a lesson to the Congress party for enacting dramas regarding reservations.
