KCR tears into Oppn on projects

Points fingers at Congress misdeeds

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday launched a broadside against the main Opposition Congress saying that the present drinking water and irrigation crisis in Telangana was the result of the 'conspiracy' hatched by the then Congress governments in united Andhra Pradesh to divert water to non-Telangana regions.

In his reply to the Governor’s Address in the Assembly, the Chief Minister did not mince words in pointing a finger at all the Congress rulers, including then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, for creating hurdles in completing several long-pending projects on Godavari and Krishna rivers in Telangana on the pretext of not having an environmental clearance or citing a pending inter-state disputes.

"Even after agreements were entered with Maharashtra, Penganga and Lendi project works have not been executed under the guise of inter-state disputes. In the case of Tummidihatti project, the then Congress government has taken up works worth Rs 8,000 crore without informing the Maharashtra government, which raised objections to the project and finally halted it," he informed the Assembly.

In a scathing attack on Telangana Congress leaders, the KCR questioned their stoic silence on the Potireddypadu and Pulichintala projects on the River Krishna, which were taken up at a fast pace by YSR and the delay in completing the AMR Lift Irrigation Project and the Tummidihatti and Pranahitha Chevella project on the River Godavari in Telangana. “Congress governments are only for Seemandhra people and the Telangana leaders have always been submissive to Andhra leaders for their political survival,” he alleged.

Stating that Telangana and Maharashtra would enter in to an agreement on the finalization of height of the projects by March end, KCR said officials of both the states would meet on March 19 to discuss in detail water sharing and benefits from the five projects on the River Godavari. “Unlike previous governments, we want to maintain cordial relations with all neighbouring states,” he said and added that his policy was to "Live and let Live."

After the construction of over 400 projects by Karnataka and Maharashtra on the River Godavari and River Krishna, Telangana lost the hope to avail of its water share from both the rivers. The new projects are our only hope for optimum utilization of water from Pranahita and Indravati, which are the only dependable water resources for Telangana in the future.

These projects would address the irrigation water needs in all north Telangana districts and fetch drinking water to south Telangana districts. In a bid to dispel doubts and strong objections raised by the Opposition on redesigning and re-engineering of the pending projects, the Chief Minister said he would make a detailed power point presentation on the irrigation projects in the ongoing budget session.