HYDERABAD: Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday alleged that BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao deceived the people of Telangana by not completing the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) during his 10-year tenure, while stating that the project has not received “full environmental clearances” till now.
During an informal chat with reporters here, the minister wondered: “If 90 per cent of PRLIS works are completed, as is being claimed, why was water not supplied to a single acre even?”
Responding to allegations levelled by former irrigation minister T Harish Rao, Uttam said that the former should change his name to Goebbels Rao for spreading false information. “Instead of hanging their heads in shame after three barrages collapsed at Kaleshwaram, BRS leaders have been launching counterattacks against the government,” he alleged.
Stating that the Kaleshwaram project was built by mortgaging the future of Telangana people, he said: “The projects currently in progress in the state were built by the Congress. But the Kaleshwaram project built by KCR has collapsed.”
“In five years, only 80 to 90 tmcft water was utilised from Kaleshwaram,” he claimed.
“During an Apex Council meeting, it was the KCR government that agreed to allocate 512 tmcft of Krishna water to AP and accept just 299 tmcft for Telangana,” the minister added.
Accusing KCR and Harish Rao of speaking “recklessly and irresponsibly”, he wondered: “Why didn’t KCR complete the Palamuru, Kalwakurthy, Nettampadu, Dindi and SLBC projects in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts?”
Uttam also said that the present government is now paying `16,000 to `20,000 crore per annum to clear the debts incurred during the BRS regime.