Project at Tummidihetti not viable, says expert

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy could not dig a tray of soil even if he was in power for the next 10 years since the Maharashtra government was strongly opposing it.

Karimnagar: Irrigation expert and former chairman of the Telangana Water Resources Development Corporation V Prakash Rao on Sunday said it was never possible to construct an irrigation project at Tummidihetti, as the Congress was claiming.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy could not dig a tray of soil even if he was in power for the next 10 years since the Maharashtra government was strongly opposing it.

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Even when the project was proposed by former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajashekhara Reddy, the Central Water Commission and the Maharashtra government opposed it.

After coming to power in 2014, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi president and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao also made efforts to construct the project at Tummidiheti by convincing Maharashtra, but his efforts were not successful, Prakash Rao said at a debate, ‘Kaleshwaranni Kapadukundam’, organised by Dr BN Rao Foundation here on Sunday.

‘V’ shaped site

Stating that the proposed project site was in the shape of the alphabet ‘V’, he said it was not possible to construct a barrage at such a site. Moreover, there is a wildlife sanctuary near the proposed site.

One of the water sources of the project, the Wainganga River, passed beside the sanctuary. So, it was not possible to get forest clearance as well. It was after studying all these aspects that Chandrashekhar Rao decided to construct a project on the Wardha River above Tummidihetti by spending Rs 750 crore.

However, in order to gain political mileage ahead of the elections by blaming Chandrashekhar Rao, the Congress and BJP had made baseless comments on the sinking of the Medigadda barrage pillars.

They would not have made such comments if the Assembly and Parliament elections were not there, Prakash Rao said, adding that Revanth Reddy was also trying to mislead the public with his statements on the project. Revanth misled even the Assembly, he said, adding that as part of the redesigning of irrigation projects, Chandrashekhar Rao had planned to take water directly to Mid Manair from Medigadda and asked engineers whether it was possible.

The engineers, however, did not agree, pointing out that there were Singareni coal mines en route. But they did not oppose the Meddigadda barrage. Though the pillars had sunk for about just one feet, political leaders were misleading the people, saying that the pillars had sunk three feet.

Surprisingly, neither the National Dam Safety Authority nor the State government could not find out the reason for the sinking of the pillars, he added.