Harish Rao alleges CM misled the House with half-truths on Krishna waters

HYDERABAD

The Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) strongly rebutted the allegations made by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy in the Assembly against the BRS in the matter of river waters use.

Former Minister for Irrigation T. Harish Rao made a PowerPoint presentation at the BRS office and said the BRS government had tried to undo the injustice done to Telangana by the Congress and TDP governments in combined Andhra Pradesh from 1956 to 2014 and it was the Congress that was responsible for reducing Palamuru into a district of migrations by denying 194 tmc ft of Krishna water as agreed at the time of merger.

He further alleged that the Congress did grave injustice to Nalgonda and Khammam districts by changing the location of Nagarajunasagar project from Yeleshwaram to Nandikonda by reducing the availability of water to the Telangana areas. He said Mr. Revanth Reddy had lied in the Assembly itself by claiming that Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) and Dindi LIS were among the projects included in Schedule XI of the AP Reorganisation Act to continue them without any opposition by residuary A.P.

Mr. Harish Rao stated that only Kalwakurthy and Nettempadu projects were included in Schedule XI. In fact, Section 3 reference was not made in the Reorganisation Act for reapportionment of Krishna water among A.P. and Telangana. He explained that there was 16.03 lakh acres under irrigation in Telangana under all sources till 1956 and from 1956 to 2004 another 36 lakh acres was added. From 2004 to 2014 another 5.71 lakh acres was added and 0.93 lakh acres was stabilised.

Overall, 42 lakh acres was brought under irrigation in 60 years till 2014 and the BRS government during 2014-23 added 48.74 lakh acres, including 31.5 lakh acres of stabilisation and 17.24 lakh acres of new ayacut.

Mr. Harish Rao alleged that the Chief Minister had also lied in the matter of 299 tmc ft arrangement by clubbing and omitting some paras with Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao’s comments in the two meetings of the Apex Council held in 2016 and 2020. The share was opposed strongly in the 2020 meeting and demanded for 50% share till finalisation of the Tribunal Award and sought to know why the Congress government was continuing with the same arrangement.

He pointed out that Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao had opposed jurisdiction of projects till finalisation of water shares, wanted telemetry at all points of water drawals from joint projects and warned of taking up a barrage (Jogulamba) at Alampur to tap and divert Krishna water to Telangana in case A.P. decided to go ahead with the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme in the second Apex Council meeting. He said it was due to the efforts of the BRS government that the Section 3 reference was agreed, and the Centre gave additional terms of reference to KWDT-II for the reapportionment of Krishna water among Telangana and A.P.