Majority of farmers are in favour of Kaleshwaram project: Harish Rao

Hyderabad: Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao said that a majority of people, including farmers, who participated in the public hearing, have favoured the construction of Kaleshwaram project.

Harish Rao, in a media statement on Saturday, asked the Congress party to change its attitude and respect people's verdict in favour of the project. He said State Government wants to complete the project on war footing basis to benefit the Telangana farmers. He said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has been taking several measures for the growth of agriculture sector by hastening up construction of irrigation projects. Therefore, he advised Congress leaders to stop creating hurdles in the projects by approaching Green Tribunal and courts.

Harish Rao informed that the public hearing on Kaleshwaram has been peacefully conducted in 15 districts. He said in view of some incidents that took place during the public hearing for Polavaram project, he said that public hearing for Kaleshwaram project was conducted under police protection. However, he claimed that the public hearing was done in a democratic manner.

The minister said a large number people of Nalgonda, Ranga Reddy, Sanga Reddy, Peddapalli, Nirmal, Jagitial, Mancherial, Bhupalpally, Siddipet and Sircilla have participated in the public hearing and expressed their views. He said as many as 106 people presented their views in Siddipet alone. He said nearly 30,000 people were present during the public hearing held in various districts and about 1,000 gave their views.