Hyderabad, July 13 (IANS) Alleging a Congress-BJP nexus over the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao on Monday accused the Congress government in Telangana of deliberately refusing to lift Godavari waters through the Kaleshwaram Project, despite tens of TMCs of water flowing waste into the sea.

He said Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was sacrificing the interests of Telangana’s farmers solely to sustain the false narrative he had built against the Kaleshwaram project.

Rama Rao was addressing the media after inspecting the Mid Manair Reservoir in Karimnagar district.

KTR, as the BRS leader is popularly known, said the Congress government was allowing standing crops to dry up by denying irrigation water, even as massive quantities of Godavari water continued to flow downstream unused. He urged the government to immediately resume lifting water through Kaleshwaram in the interest of farmers and warned that if it failed to act, BRS would announce a statewide agitation under the directions of party president K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).

KTR said that before the Congress came to power, the Mid Manair Reservoir remained full, whereas today it is drying up due to the government’s deliberate inaction. He noted that lifting water from the Kannepalli Pump House could effectively address both irrigation and drinking water shortages at a time when Telangana is facing the threat of drought.

Accusing the Congress government of acting out of political vendetta against the previous BRS government and the Kaleshwaram project, KTR said the administration had completely ignored farmers’ interests. He alleged that the government was refusing to consider the recommendations of retired irrigation engineers, technical experts, and the Opposition, while instead resorting to personal attacks against them.

Refuting the Chief Minister’s claim that there was no flood flow in the Godavari, KTR said enormous quantities of water were flowing downstream every day and that neighbouring Andhra Pradesh was successfully lifting the same water for its own needs. He alleged that the Telangana government was deliberately preventing water from being lifted through Kaleshwaram, thereby serving the interests of neighbouring states at the cost of Telangana farmers.

KTR pointed out that although lakhs of cusecs of water were flowing past Medigadda, the government was not utilising the opportunity to lift nearly 2 TMC of water through the Kannepalli Pump House without even lowering the Medigadda barrage gates. Despite being fully aware of these technical possibilities, the government continued to cite the NDSA report as an excuse to deny irrigation water to farmers, he said.

He accused both the Congress and the BJP of working together on the Kaleshwaram issue. While the State Irrigation Minister himself had acknowledged that repair works had been completed, the government continued to rely on the NDSA report to avoid lifting water.

KTR described the report as “not an NDSA report but a Shikhandi Report,” alleging that it was politically motivated and prepared under the BJP-led NDA government to malign Telangana.

According to KTR, the refusal to lift water from Kaleshwaram has endangered not only the Lower Manair and Mid Manair reservoirs but the entire chain of projects across the Godavari basin. He warned that with El Nino conditions prevailing, Telangana could soon face severe agricultural distress as well as a major drinking water crisis.

He further cautioned that if water was not lifted into the Yellampalli reservoir, even Hyderabad could face drinking water shortages. KTR recalled that under the previous BRS government, Kaleshwaram water ensured uninterrupted drinking water supply to Karimnagar city, whereas today residents were struggling even for basic drinking water.

–IANS

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