Hyderabad: Former irrigation minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Deputy Floor Leader T Harish Rao on Tuesday, July 21, accused the Congress government of deliberately denying water to farmers and alleged that administrative negligence had pushed large parts of the erstwhile Warangal district into an avoidable drought.
Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan, Harish Rao alleged the present crisis was not a drought caused by El Niño, but created by the Congress government.
He said that after his press conference on July 12, ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy visited the Devadula Lift Irrigation Project and assured farmers that 38 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water would be lifted to fill 22 reservoirs under the project.
However, the government then forgot these assurances, forcing farmers to stage protests across Shayampet, Bhimadevarapally, Elkathurthy and several other parts of Warangal, he said.
Harish Rao said that the Sammakka Barrage, constructed during the BRS government, currently has sufficient water storage and receives substantial inflows from the Godavari River, but despite this, the government is not operating all the pumps under the Devadula project.
“On July 13, the ministers announced that all 10 pumps would operate. Even till yesterday, only five pumps were functioning. Whenever ministers visit, seven pumps are switched on for display, but once they leave, only three pumps remain operational,” Harish Rao alleged.
He questioned the government for failing to utilise the Devadula system even when there was no technical impediment.
“There is no National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) issue here. Water is available, pumps are available and power is available. Then why is the government refusing to lift water?” he asked.
He alleged that while neighbouring Andhra Pradesh was making every effort to utilise available Godavari waters, the Telangana government was allowing precious water to flow downstream.
According to him, 105 TMC of Godavari water had already flowed past the Sammakka Barrage towards Andhra Pradesh, with Telangana lifting only 1.9 TMC, despite having the capacity to lift nearly 12 TMC.
“The entire world is conserving every drop of water, but this government is allowing Telangana’s water to flow away. If even a fraction of the available water had been lifted, all 22 reservoirs under Devadula could have been filled within the last 50 days,” he said.
He said the government was misleading farmers by making contradictory statements. “On one hand, ministers are assuring that water would be supplied to nearly three lakh acre, while district authorities are advising farmers not to undertake cultivation due to a lack of water… Who should farmers believe, the ministers or the District Collector?” he said.
He demanded the government to apologise to farmers for misleading them and provide subsidies to those whose crops had suffered due to the delay in releasing irrigation water.
He also alleged that the government had delayed operating the Devadula pumps last year by nearly 50 days after failing to clear electricity dues, resulting in crop losses worth hundreds of crores of rupees. “The same negligence is repeating this year despite warnings of El Niño conditions,” he said.
Harish Rao criticised the Congress for repeatedly attacking the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project and said it should instead focus on executing its own promises, including the proposed Tummidihetti project.
“For the last 30 months, they have only spoken about Tummidihetti. Not even a handful of soil has been moved. Instead of blaming Kaleshwaram every day, the government should focus on supplying water to Telangana’s farmers,” he said.
He warned that if the government continued to neglect farmers, the BRS would launch a large-scale public agitation along with farmers from Warangal, Nalgonda and Karimnagar districts.
