KANNEPALLI: Claiming that one lakh cusecs of water was going waste through Kannepalli pump house, BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Sunday demanded that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy hand over the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) to his predecessor K Chandrasekhar Rao and the pink party will provide irrigation to the entire state.
Speaking to the media during his visit to the Kannepalli pump house, the former minister said: “Hand over Kaleshwaram project to KCR for one week and give us four CEs, DEs and AEs. The BRS will provide irrigation to entire Telangana.”
“If pumps are operated at Kannepalli, the water could be taken to Annaram, just 13.5 km away, by gravity,” he said, while blaming the government for not operating the pumps.
“If these pumps are operated, water could also be diverted to SRSP, Mallannasagar and Nizamsagar. It can be diverted even to Kodad if two tmcft water is lifted from Kannepally,” he added
‘Protect state from drought’
Demanding that the government immediately operate the Kannepalli pump house and lift Godavari waters to protect the state from the impending drought, Rama Rao warned that Telangana may face a severe water crisis due to the combined impact of El Nino, deficient rainfall and government inaction.
The BRS leader further said that 26 out of 33 districts in the state were already facing drought-like situation, even as lakhs of cusecs of Godavari water continues to flow wastefully into the sea because the government had failed to utilise the existing Kaleshwaram infrastructure.
The Sircilla MLA alleged that the state government was displaying apathy towards farmers despite repeated warnings from weather experts about El Nino and below-normal rainfall.
“Even as the state is facing drought-like situation, the government is allowing water to go waste,” he alleged.
Rama Rao alleged that the government was deliberately withholding water as it fears the financial responsibility of procuring larger harvests, supplying fertilisers and paying bonus to farmers.
