Uttam Kumar Reddy accuses BRS of conspiring to betray Palamuru farmers, defends Congress gains
Hyderabad: Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday came down sharply on the BRS leadership, accusing them of systematically conspiring to cheat Palamuru farmers and push them into uncertainty. He alleged that the BRS had made it a political strategy to provoke farmers with misleading propaganda every crop season and build anxiety deliberately among them.
Addressing the media, Uttam Kumar Reddy targeted former minister Harish Rao, claiming he had gone beyond the “Goebbels school of lies” with repeated false statements intended to rattle the farming community. The minister argued that, unlike the BRS, the Congress government had shown concrete support to farmers, providing confidence during sowing operations and ensuring timely assistance.
He pointed to data showing that in the previous Kharif season, Telangana farmers cultivated paddy on 66.7 lakh acres and harvested 153.5 lakh metric tonnes, while in the subsequent Rabi season, 60 lakh acres produced 130 lakh metric tonnes. In total, 283 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was produced in one year under the Congress government led by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, which he called an achievement unmatched in Indian agriculture.
Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that BRS leaders could not tolerate such record-breaking progress and were resorting to baseless criticism rather than admitting their own policy failures. He charged that the BRS was trying to defame the government over the Medigadda and Kalwakurthy projects only to distract public attention from its misdeeds during its tenure.
He blamed the present structural failures at Medigadda barrage on what he described as the BRS regime’s incompetence, negligence and poor technical standards, claiming that the secant piles technology adopted for Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages had left them all in a dangerous condition. He referred to the National Dam Safety Authority report, which had found fault with those designs and flagged safety risks.
He reminded that almost 57 TMC of water lifted from Medigadda to Annaram, Sundilla and Yellampalli barrages had been released back to the sea through open gates, squandering massive public resources. Uttam Kumar Reddy asked whether BRS leaders had conveniently forgotten these facts, and asserted the present Congress government would take decisions on remedial measures strictly on scientific and technical inputs from the National Dam Safety Authority.
On the Kalwakurthy lifts, he clarified they would be switched on as usual around the end of July or the first week of August, depending on rainfall and storage levels. He cited the record, listing activation dates since 2019, and said this year’s schedule would follow the same pattern. Final decisions on water allocation and timings for irrigation ayacuts would be taken at the State Committee for Integrated Water Planning and Management (SCIWAM) meeting on July 11, he added.
Uttam Kumar Reddy further charged that the BRS had conspired with Andhra Pradesh over Krishna river water sharing, secretly allowing the Pothireddypadu head regulator to be expanded to 88,000 cusecs, and facilitating diversion of 8–10 TMC daily through the Rayalaseema lift and Muchumarri. He alleged that from 2004 to 2014, AP had illegally drawn 770 TMC of Krishna water, and from 2014 to 2023, during the BRS regime, another 1225 TMC was taken away. He called this the clearest proof of how the BRS had mortgaged Telangana’s interests.
He contrasted this with the Congress government’s focus on farmer welfare, citing a raise in Rythu Bharosa to ₹6,000 per acre compared to ₹5,000 earlier, along with a farm loan waiver up to ₹2 lakh per farmer. He said the Congress had swiftly disbursed ₹9,000 crore within nine days to help Kharif farmers.
The minister insisted that compared to the BRS years, the current government had utilised water resources far more prudently, helping expand cultivated area, drive up crop yields, and improve procurement operations. He described Telangana’s agriculture sector as a role model under Congress rule, where farmers in both Godavari and Krishna basins had achieved record results.
Reaffirming the government’s commitment to irrigation and farmer security, Uttam Kumar Reddy appealed to Harish Rao to abandon what he termed mischievous and fabricated statements, and to respect the interests of farmers instead of repeating conspiracies.