Irrigation top priority: KCR

Tirumalayapalem (Khammam): Launching a broadside against the Opposition, especially the Congress, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday equated the disruption of irrigation projects to the ‘cover fire’ in a bid to hide their lacklustre ruling in last 58 years.

“There were questions, sarcasms and humiliating remarks when Telangana movement was in progress. Now the critics came to know what our fight was all about,” KCR said, pointing to his government’s first major success Bhakta Ramadasu Lift Irrigation Scheme (BRLIS), which he inaugurated earlier in the day at Erragadda Tanda under Kusumanchi mandal.

BRLIS is the beginning of TRS government’s herculean task of bringing one crore acres under irrigation, he said, asserting that they would overcome all the hurdles created by the Opposition parties.

He assured of providing irrigation water to Kakaravai, Bachodu, Subled, Solipuram, Painampalli, Rajaram, Husnabad etc that were not covered under the BRLIS.

“Sri Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Scheme will be completed in one-and-a-half year,” KCR said, asserting that decades of drought would soon come to an end. Praising Bhakta Ramadasu, he said a memorial would be constructed in Nelakondapalli, the saint composer’s birthplace.

Taking a dig at former Union Minister P Chidambaram’s remarks that the State government had failed to do anything for the poor, KCR said that Congress neither had vision to develop during its regime nor had eyes to see the strides Telangana made in last couple of years.

Referring to the double bedroom houses, pensions, fine rice for the mid-day meal scheme, Mission Kakatiya, Mission Bhagiratha, Haritha Haram, revival of Singareni jobs on compassionate grounds, uninterrupted power supply, increase in capacity of godowns from 4 lakh Metric Tonnes (MT) to 21 lakh MT introduced by his government and highways development from 2,650 kms to 5,426 kms, the CM questioned Chidambaram was it not the development?