HYDERABAD: Demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi declare Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) a national project during his visit to Mahbubnagar on October 1, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Friday asked the Central government to allocate 575 tmcft, calling it Telangana’s rightful share of Krishna river waters.
Addressing the “Pragathi Nivedana Sabha” public meeting in Wanaparthy, Rama Rao questioned the “vindictive” attitude of Modi towards Telangana and his government’s “failure” to include Valmiki-Boyas in the ST list, despite the State government passing a resolution in the Legislative Assembly twice and sending it to the Centre.
Launching a broadside against the Congress, Rama Rao said that while the grand old party stood for scams, the BRS stood for schemes. “Congress’ rule was notorious for tears and migration, while the BRS gained fame for creating irrigation facilities,” the minister asserted.
Describing the Congress’ six guarantees as “guarantees without a warranty”, he said that if the Congress was voted to power, farmers would get power for only three hours and drinking water supply would be severely impacted.
Foundation stone laid for palm oil processing unit
During his tour of Wanaparthy, he laid the foundation stone for construction of a palm oil processing unit at Sankireddipally village and inaugurated the drinking water supply project under Mission Bhagiratha for supplying water to Wanaparthy town at Buggapalli thanda in Peddamandadi mandal at a cost of Rs 425 crore.He also inaugurated a soil testing centre set up at a cost of Rs 1.02 crore and laid the foundation stone for construction of an IT tower at a cost of Rs 22 crore.
Speaking at Sankireddypally, Rama Rao stressed the need for diversifying crops in the State, which he said could be done by cultivating oil palms. He noted that the State government has set the target of raising the crop in 20 lakh acres in five years.
Claiming that India is importing 70 per cent of edible oil being consumed in the country, Rama Rao said that while oil palm was cultivated in 39 lakh acres across the country in the last 35 years, Telangana achieved a record by raising the crop over 1.22 lakh acres in the last two years.
To instil confidence among farmers going for oil palm cultivation, he said that the palm oil processing factory in Sankireddipally was being constructed across 40 acres. As per the requirement of raw material, the factory will procure the produce from oil palm farmers from the Palamuru region, he said.
He appreciated Agriculture Minister Niranjan Reddy and Devarkadra MLA A Venkateshwar Reddy for setting an example for farmers by cultivating oil palms in their own fields.Detailing various development and infrastructure works undertaken for the benefit of Wanaparthy by the State government, he said that the constituency would be developed on par with Siddipet and Sircilla.