Hyderabad: Telangana Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday said the Congress government would complete the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) with its original water allocation of 90 TMC.
Dismissing BRS‘ allegations of deviation from the project’s planned design thus causing “injustice” to Mahabubnagar and other districts, he said the Congress government is strictly adhering to the Government Order (GO) issued by the previous BRS government in 2022 which proposed 90 TMC.
The 90 TMC includes 45 TMC from savings in minor irrigation schemes and another 45 TMC from Telangana’s share due to Andhra Pradesh’s diversion of Godavari water.
“The BRS initiated the Palamuru-Rangareddy project and sought 90 TMC in their own submissions to the Centre. We are following that same GO without any changes,” Reddy said, accusing the opposition BRS of spreading misinformation.
He alleged that the previous BRS government had halted works on key links of the project and not commenced works of distributary channels and ayacut canals, despite the project’s potential to irrigate over 12.3 lakh acres in drought-prone districts including Mahabubnagar Rangareddy, Vikarabad, Narayanpet and parts of Nalgonda and Khammam, an official release said.
According to Reddy, the BRS government started the project with an initial estimate of Rs 35,000 crore but it escalated to Rs 55,000 crore by the time the Detailed Project Report (DPR) was submitted to the Central Water Commission (CWC).
The Rs 55,000 crore cost estimate submitted in DPR to CWC did not include the full cost of land acquisition of 30,000 acres required for ayacut canals and other works. At present cost, the full cost of PRLI Scheme is likely to exceed Rs 70,000 crore, the release said.
Despite spending Rs 27,000 crore on the project during BRS regime, water was not supplied to a single acre, he alleged.
“The BRS took 10 years and failed to complete the project. We will finish it and deliver water to Palamuru (Mahabubnagar),” Reddy asserted.
Meanwhile, BRS MLA T Harish Rao asked whether the government reduced the water allocation of PRLI Scheme to 45 TMC or not, according to a BRS release.
When BRS was in power, Congress leaders tried to stall project works by filing cases in National Green Tribunal, he alleged.
Though the Centre sent back DPR of the project a year ago, the Congress has so far not made a fresh submission to the Centre, he said.
