Hyderabad: Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday accused the previous BRS government of a “historic blunder” in abandoning the original Pranahita-Chevella irrigation project. He said the BRS redesigned the project around Medigadda under the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS).
Addressing a media conference at the Secretariat, the Minister announced a time-bound roadmap to rehabilitate the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages. The roadmap outlines the technical assessments, design approvals and execution milestones planned for their restoration.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said Telangana would be better equipped to face the prevailing El Niño-induced drought had the original Pranahita-Chevella project been completed without modifications. He alleged that considerations other than the long-term interests of farmers drove the decision to deviate from the original design. He claimed the project, first envisaged at a cost of around Rs. 38,000 crore, had placed an enormous financial burden on the State without delivering the promised irrigation benefits.
The Minister maintained that completing the project as originally planned would have strengthened irrigation infrastructure across north Telangana. In his view, it would also have reduced the region’s vulnerability to rainfall deficits and helped farmers cope with recurring droughts.
Experts engaged for barrage rehabilitation
He also accused the previous regime of saddling the State with an unsustainable debt burden while leaving critical irrigation infrastructure incomplete. The State government has engaged national and international experts to oversee the rehabilitation of the three KLIS barrages, he said. He stressed that people should assess Telangana’s irrigation achievements on facts and ground realities rather than political rhetoric.
Minister Vivek Venkataswamy attended the media conference. Colonel Parikshit Mehra, a tunnel engineering expert associated with the rehabilitation mission, Engineer-in-Chief (General) Ramesh Babu and several elected representatives also attended.