In a fiery press conference on Tuesday, Telangana's Irrigation Minister, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, launched a severe indictment against the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) administration. He leveled serious allegations of financial mismanagement and deception concerning major irrigation projects in the state, with a particular focus on the Palamuru–Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme.
Allegations of Massive Expenditure Without Results
The minister's most striking claim was that the BRS government, under former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), spent a staggering Rs 27,000 crore on the Palamuru–Rangareddy project. Despite this enormous investment, Reddy asserted that not a single acre of new agricultural land received water from the project. He accused the BRS leadership of systematically misleading the people of Telangana by showcasing progress on the project while it allegedly lacked essential statutory approvals.
Reddy dismissed the BRS's claims of having an agreement for 45 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic feet) of water for the project as completely false. He provided further evidence by pointing out that in the official water allocation proposals submitted to the Central government in 2020, no water was formally sought for the Palamuru project, the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC), or the Dindi project.
Congress's Counter and Future Promises
Drawing a sharp contrast, Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy presented the Congress government's record. He stated that in the past two years, the current administration has spent Rs 7,000 crore on the Palamuru project and promised a full, transparent account of this expenditure. He firmly asserted that the previous regime never had a genuine intention to complete the irrigation project, leaving it in a state of limbo.
Reddy expanded his criticism to the BRS's entire decade-long tenure, alleging that a colossal Rs 1.8 lakh crore was spent on various irrigation projects across Telangana. Yet, he claimed, the net result was that no new acreage was brought under irrigation, with farmers still dependent on systems built during the era of united Andhra Pradesh.
Accusations of Favoring Andhra and Assurances
The minister escalated his attack by accusing KCR of indirectly facilitating Andhra Pradesh's exploitation of water resources. He specifically mentioned the Rayalaseema lift irrigation scheme, implying that the BRS government's policies allowed Andhra to benefit at Telangana's expense. Reddy announced that the Congress government, upon assuming power, had taken steps to halt this project.
Looking forward, Uttam Kumar Reddy offered assurances to the public. He committed to completing the long-pending SLBC project within the next three years. When confronted with allegations made by BRS leader T Harish Rao about commissions in contracts, Reddy retorted firmly, "We do not have such habits," distancing his party's governance style from the accusations levied at the previous government.
