Hyderabad: BRS leader and former minister T. Harish Rao on Tuesday accused the Congress government of creating a Telangana irrigation crisis by failing to utilise available Godavari water. He alleged that administrative negligence had left farmers in the erstwhile Warangal district without irrigation despite sufficient water in the Sammakka Barrage.
Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan, Harish Rao claimed the situation was not the result of El Niño. Instead, he described it as a drought created by the Congress government.
He recalled that the BRS had urged the government on July 12 to immediately operate the Devadula Lift Irrigation Scheme. A day later, Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Bhatti Vikramarka and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy visited the project. They announced plans to lift 38 TMC of water to fill 22 reservoirs, he said.
Harish Rao alleged that the government failed to honour those assurances. Farmers had already started transplantation after believing the ministers’ announcement, he said. However, irrigation water never reached their fields.
He said farmers in Shayampet, Bhimadevarapally, Elkathurthy and several other parts of the erstwhile Warangal district had launched protests demanding irrigation water.
Harish Rao questions handling of Telangana irrigation crisis
Harish Rao claimed the Sammakka Barrage held sufficient water and continued to receive inflows from the Godavari River. Despite that, the government had not operated all the pumps under the Devadula project.
He alleged that ministers had announced on July 13 that all 10 pumps would function. Even by July 20, only five pumps were working, he claimed. According to him, officials briefly switched on seven pumps during ministerial visits. After the ministers left, only three pumps remained operational.
Questioning the government’s approach, Harish Rao said there was no technical obstacle to operating the Devadula system at full capacity. He alleged that about 105 TMC of Godavari water had flowed towards Andhra Pradesh. During the same period, the government lifted only 1.9 TMC despite having the capacity to lift nearly 12 TMC.
He claimed the Telangana irrigation crisis could have been avoided. According to him, the government could have filled all 22 reservoirs under the Devadula project within the past 50 days by lifting only a portion of the available water.
Harish Rao also alleged that the government delayed operating the Devadula pumps by nearly 50 days last year after failing to clear electricity dues. He claimed the delay caused crop losses worth hundreds of crores of rupees.
The former minister further criticised the Congress government for attacking the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project while making no progress on the proposed Tummidihetti project. He alleged that the government had discussed the project for the past 30 months without beginning any work. Instead of blaming Kaleshwaram, it should focus on supplying irrigation water to Telangana farmers, he said.