The Opposition party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has accused the Congress Government in Telangana of having a criminal conspiracy motive behind the delay in taking up restoration work on the damaged Medigadda Barrage of Kaleshwaram project. BRS has requested it to rehabilitate the structure with experts’ advice to resume lifting of water to protect crops and prevent drinking water problems.
“They (Congress Government) deliberately want Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla Barrages of Kaleshwaram to suffer more damage during the coming monsoon by leaving the problems unattended as part of their plans to portray the project as a failure”, a working president of BRS K.T. Rama Rao said at a press conference held in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
“We have said it in the Assembly and outside that the government had all the powers to institute inquiries of its choice into Medigadda damage and Kaleshwaram project and take action against whoever is found responsible. But, in the name of investigation, inquiries, and reports it can’t victimize people and deny water to farmers whoever was getting it from Kaleshwaram for the last three years”, he said addressing a press conference along with other leaders of the party.
With visits, presentations, and press conferences, the Congress Government explained their version (one side of the coin) of the Kaleshwaram project, Mr. Rama Rao said. He added that now they were expected to take up restoration work as early as possible and give water to the new as well as existing ayacut by completing canals and distributaries instead of wasting time since the weathermen had forecast an El Nino year for India.
He stated that there were innumerable examples of irrigation projects or barrages suffering damage including seepage, leakage, and others, particularly in the new ones. Stating that the Government was a continuous process he said the incumbent needed to take up repairs needed, as the BRS Government did in the case of Mid Manair Reservoir, to ensure the intended benefit to farmers and other sections of people.
CBR won’t apply
On the cost-benefit ratio and other aspects mentioned in the CAG report on the Kaleshwaram project, the former Minister said if that criteria were taken into consideration for every work taken up by a government with social responsibility there would not be any government hospital, any IIT or IIM or any other institution that would engage in work for the larger good.
“Projects such as Kaleshwaram are necessary, particularly for geographically disadvantageous areas such as Telangana where a majority of the cultivable lands are available up to 500 meters higher altitude than the level of river flows”, he explained, adding that Kaleshwaram project had played the role of water conservation too by improving the groundwater table considerably.
Further, Mr. Rama Rao recollected the remarks of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Chief Ministers Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on the CAG reports during their regime on coal scam, ‘Jala Yagam’ and others. “Let the Congress make its stand on CAG reports clear first. If the reports in their rule in the past were correct, so will be now. If they were not correct, it applies now too”, he commented.
He sought to know why would the number of borewells go up if the groundwater was not available. Coupled with good rains, the filling of tanks with the Kaleshwaram project played a key role in bringing up the groundwater table in the State.
Visit to Medigadda
The BRS working president stated that about 150 party leaders including MPs, MLAs, MLCs, former members, and experts or engineers would visit Medigadda Barrage on March 1 to present the other side of the Kaleshwaram project to people all over again. They would visit other barrages and pump houses up to Kondapochamma Sagar in phases to explain the role of Kaleshwaram in transforming the State into a rice bowl by taking the paddy production up to 3.5 crore tonnes a year.
Former Ministers Gangula Kamalakar, Satyavathi Rathod, V. Srinivas Gound, and party leaders Danam Nagender, Padi Kaushik Reddy, Gandra Venkataramana Reddy, and Challa Dharma Reddy were present at the press conference.
