Modi walks TRS’ path but only for UP

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on Saturday that proper utilisation of water of the country’s rivers and adequate water reaching farmers’ fields was one of the top priorities of the BJP government, echoing the sentiments of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on water utilisation and prosperity of the farm sector. In the process, Modi […]

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on Saturday that proper utilisation of water of the country’s rivers and adequate water reaching farmers’ fields was one of the top priorities of the BJP government, echoing the sentiments of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on water utilisation and prosperity of the farm sector.

In the process, Modi has virtually, even if inadvertently, acknowledged that the TRS government in Telangana was doing all the right things and was on the right path.

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Sample another statement the Prime Minister made during his speech after inaugurating the Rs 9,800-crore Saryu Nahar National Project at Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh – “The completion of the project is a testament to honest intentions and efficient work.”

Well, Telangana’s Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), the mega multi-stage and complex project that has transformed the landscape of the youngest State in the country, was built with the same intention but with better efficiency. Chandrashekhar Rao has also been speaking the same language on river water utilisation for over seven years now. Surely, there can’t be different yardsticks in different parts of the country.

With the same ‘intention,’ Telangana has been raising the demand for ‘National Project’ status for KLIS over the years, but the Centre has cold-shouldered the State on this issue.

Going by the Prime Minister’s assertion on intent and efficiency, by the same yardstick, the TRS government deserves all the accolades, encouragement and support from the Centre for KLIS since this project too ‘is a testament to honest intentions and efficient work’ of the State government. And the end objective is the same!

Modi went on to boast: “We have done more work in the Saryu canal project than what was done in five decades in less than five years.”

Ho-hum, the TRS government completed the one-of-its-kind KLIS in a record time of three years, irrigating what was once completely parched lands that placed the Telangana region among the most backward areas in the country. And where is the State now, not just in agriculture but also on several other fronts?

The Prime Minister also spoke of neglect and negligence by previous governments. Here again, no region has suffered more than Telangana under successive governments in the seven decades preceding Statehood in 2014. The State government, in a matter of seven years, has transformed the entire State in every area of economic activity and public welfare, so much so that its initiatives are replicated not only by other State but even the BJP government at the Centre

Will the State BJP leadership, at least now, have the grace to acknowledge the achievements of the State government? If they don’t, their ‘intentions’ would be very clear for everyone to see since they can’t make a distinction between similar situations in two States!

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