HYDERABAD: Senior BJP leader G. Vivek Venkata Swamy said that a faulty redesigning of Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project was resulting in backwaters damaging crops in erstwhile Adilabad and Karimnagar districts.
Farmers have lost 60,000 acres of crops in the last two years and they are incurring a loss of Rs 50,000 per acre, he said.
The former MP met Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Bhavan here on Saturday. He was accompanied by farmers from Kaleshwaram backwater areas of Chennur and Manthani Assembly constituencies and explained to the Governor about their plight.
The BJP called for a dharna at Dharna Chowk and police had given permission but they arrested farmers prior to the event, he said.
Vivek said that one farmer had committed suicide on Friday unable to bear the losses of Rs 4 lakh due to the backwaters. He urged the governor to inquire into the plight of farmers and initiate steps for compensation to the victims.
TRS legislator Balka Suman was trying to get lands of the farmers in the backwater areas, he alleged.
He said the Pranahita-Chevella lift irrigation scheme at Tummidihatti had been planned with a gravity canal system, but the TRS government redesigned the project for huge commissions. He sought a probe into this.
