KHAMMAM: Reacting sharply to BRS working president KT Rama Rao holding Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy responsible for the collapse of a retaining wall at the Sunkishala project, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that the former, instead of apologising to the people for the mistakes committed during the pink party regime, is blaming the present Congress dispensation.
The deputy CM was speaking after laying the foundation stone for several development works in Wyra on Friday. During the event, Vikramarka announced that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy will inaugurate the Rajiv Link Canal in Wyra town on August 15. Referring specifically to Rama Rao’s comments, he said: “Both the Kaleshwaram and Sunkishala projects were built during BRS rule. Kaleshwaram collapsed when it had no water. The Sunkishala project also faced the same issues.”
“The BRS government constructed the Medigadda, Sundilla and Annaram barrages in locations that the Congress said were not suitable for such projects. KCR took his own decisions and ignored the advice of engineers, which led to the collapse of Kaleshwaram,” he said.
The deputy chief minister also alleged that the previous regime perpetrated corruption in the Irrigation department. “The BRS government corrupted the Irrigation department... by redesigning Congress-era projects and by redesigning and renaming of the Rajiv and Indira Sagar projects as the Sita Rama project, escalating the project costs from Rs 1,450 crore to Rs 23,000 crore,” he said.
“The quality of all irrigation projects built by the BRS government on Krishna river would be investigated,” he added.
Despite spending Rs 8,000 crore on the Sita Rama project, the BRS government has not provided water to even one acre of land, he said. “Now that the Congress is in power, the Rajiv Link Canal project has been completed in three months with just Rs 75 crore. This project will help in irrigating 1.5 lakh acres,” the deputy chief minister added.