Uttam Blames BRS Govt for Palamuru Problems

Hyderabad: Irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Thursday said the previous BRS government had committed a ‘major blunder’ by relocating the Palamuru Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme (PRLIS) from its original source site at Jurala to Srisailam. Drawing from official documents, government orders, and hydrological data, Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the BRS government led by then-Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of deliberate undermining of the state's future.

He said the BRS’ claims that 90 per cent of PRLIS works had been completed during its government tenure were a ‘cruel deception’. When the project was initiated in 2015 by the BRS government it was estimated to cost Rs.35,000 crore. This was revised to Rs.55,000 crore. “And now, completion of the PRLIS and its operationalisation will need more than Rs.80,000 crore,” the minister said.

He accused the BRS government of inflating progress reports to mislead the public, saying “their 90 per cent completion claim is utterly unfounded and a disservice to the people of Telangana, especially those in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts who have suffered from drought for decades.”

The minister said that locating the project at Jurala would have averted significant cost escalations, and drew a comparison with the Kaleshwaram project under BRS rule. “For just two additional tmc ft of water in Kaleshwaram, they tendered works worth Rs.20,000 crore involving multiple tunnels," Reddy said. In contrast, the PRLIS capacity was deliberately capped at one tmc ft to accommodate Andhra Pradesh's Rayalaseema lift irrigation scheme, sacrificing Telangana's potential benefits. “This was a compromise that cost us dearly,” he said, noting that the overall project costs ballooned without delivering proportional value.

Uttam Kumar Reddy’s comments came at a presentation to MLAs, MLCs, and his Cabinet colleagues at Praja Bhavan with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy chairing the meeting.

He said there was “undue cooperation” by the BRS government with Andhra Pradesh and this came at a severe cost for Telangana. He also pointed out that former chief minister of AP, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, in November wrote a letter to AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu questioning why the AP government had failed to make strong arguments like Telangana on its water rights before the Bachawat tribunal.

Uttam Kumar Reddy reiterated Telangana's demand for 763 tmc ft out of the total 1,050 tmc ft water available in the Krishna Basin, stressing that the state's interests must remain protected at all costs.