HYDERABAD: TPCC president A Revanth Reddy on Friday said that the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) stay on Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) was a clear case of gross negligence at the hands of the TRS-led Telangana government.Speaking to the media in Hyderabad, Revanth said, “The Telangana government lost the case to a common man who questioned the construction of the project.”
He said that the NGT’s order was a major blow to the interests of the people of Telangana. “Had the TRS government handled it properly, we would not have lost the case. The government, in fact, had withdrawn its applications from the Centre for approvals for reasons unknown in the year 2017,” he said, and pointed out that it was Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s carelessness in according priority to the project that caused the issue in the first place.
“As the project is still under construction, the NGT had ordered the halt. Had it been complete by now, the Tribunal would have just imposed a penalty and left it at that. KCR has failed in this regard too,” Revanth said, recalling how the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government had completed the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme early to evade a situation like this.
The TPCC president said that the stay orders were “a death warrant” for south Telangana. He asked the Chief Minister how he had failed to persuade his “friend” and Andhra Pradesh counterpart YS Jagan Mohan Reddy from proceeding against Palamuru-Rangareddy. “The people’s curse will definitely visit KCR one day,” he said.