No project conceded to KRMB, says Uttam Kumar Reddy

Dismissing BRS leader, T Harish Rao's contention that the State government had already conceded the operational control of the NSP to the KRMB, Uttam Kumar Reddy called it a false assumption

Hyderabad: Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy asserted on Friday that the Government has not conceded the operational control of any irrigation project to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) so far.

Talking to media persons along with the Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka in secretariat after a review of Sitarama project works, he said that the though the Centre was making efforts in the direction of placing the Krishna basin projects in the control of the River Management Board, the State did not give any commitment to it on the issue.

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Dismissing BRS leader, T Harish Rao‘s contention that the State government had already conceded the operational control of the NSP to the KRMB, he called it a false assumption and added that the Centre wanted both Telangana and AP States to discuss the issues involved and hand over the projects to the river board so as to ensure that the November 29 incident at the dam site would not recur.

Questioning the BRS leaders whether they had any right to talk about safeguarding State interests in respect of the Krishna river waters, he stated that the State availment of Krishna water had come down drastically during the BRS rule. Having represented an assembly constituency that was part of the NSP left canal command, he said, he was in the know of things much better.

When the AP was taking water from the Srisailam project through back door methods and building illegal lift schemes, the BRS leaders had failed to raise their voice. Even on the construction of the Sangameshwara project, AP was not opposed. The BRS leaders were engaged in talks for hours together and hobnobbed with the AP leaders on their visit to Hyderabad. It would not be proper on their part to talk of State interests, he asserted.

‘BRS govt could not apply in right format for grant of national project status’

The Irrigation Minister informed that the BRS government could not apply in right format for grant of national project status for any of the State projects including KLIS and the PRLIS during the past ten years. As the union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was approached by the Chief Minister, Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka along with him on the same mission during their recent visit to Delhi, the former had made it amply clear that national project concept was a mere political slogan and it was not given to any state so far. The union Minister, however, had agreed to consider 60 per cent funding to the PRLIS under the PMKSY. The State government is now applying in the right format for consideration of the PRLIS for 60 per cent funding under the PMKSY.

He alleged that the Irrigation Department was left totally shattered under the BRS rule. Over Rs 94000 crore was spent on Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme and the net addition to ayacut was hardly one lakh acres. It had spent another Rs 27000 crore on the PRLIS, but additional ayacut achieved was zero. Over Rs 7000 crore was spent on the Sitarama Sagar project, and the department had drawn a blank so far in adding any new ayacut.

He alleged that the high cost loans borrowed by the previous government added to the burden of the State exchequer by Rs 18000 crore annually in the form debt servicing from the next financial year. In addition to this, the new government was left with Rs 9500 unpaid bills to be cleared. The BRS government had borrowed short term loans at an interest rate that ranged from 10.5 per cent to 11 percent which was unusual of a government that taken up infrastructural projects. The issue was represented to the union Minister for Finance Niramala Seetaraman with a plea for converting them into soft loans.