No More Niceties, Will Protest Palamuru Project: KCR
KCR said PRLIS was a long-delayed project designed to draw around 174 tmc ft from the Krishna river.
Hyderabad: BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao put Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, and the Congress government in Telangana, on notice on the issue of the state’s water rights.
“There will be no more niceties. I will not allow ‘harakiri’ of the state’s rights. How can KCR be silent when Telangana’s water rights are being given up? So I wanted to step in,” Rao declared at a press conference at Telangana Bhavan that lasted for more than an hour.
To start with, Rao said, he would lead the BRS’ mass movement against the Congress government on its failures related to the Palamuru Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme (PRLIS). This was the topic of discussion with party leaders earlier in the day, he added.
Incidentally, while referring to the meeting, he said it was attended by TRS Legislature Party, TRS Parliamentary Party members along with other party leaders.
“Tolu teestam (we will skin them),” he declared, adding that there will be public meetings in Mahbubnagar, Rangareddy and Nalgonda districts which he will address, and the party will mobilise people to force the Congress government to protect the PRLIS and complete it.
Rao said it was unpardonable that the state government watched silently as the Centre sent back the detailed project report of PRLIS, and the irrigation minister wrote to the Centre saying 45 tmc ft of water would be enough for the project.
The former chief minister said PRLIS was a long-delayed project designed to draw around 174 tmc ft from the Krishna river. The BRS government, he said, spent Rs.27,000 crore of the sanctioned `35,000 crore on the project, completing nearly 90 per cent of the works.
“Now, this government is silent when the DPR is sent back, and says it will be satisfied with just 45 tmc ft of water. The issue is we are entitled to 90.81 tmc ft as per allocations, and savings from minor irrigation sources. As per the original allocations, Karnataka and Maharashtra are already using their share of the river water,” he said.
Accusing the Congress government in Telangana of failing to make a strong case before the Brijesh Kumar tribunal and caving in before the Centre, Rao targeted Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in the same breath and said that the TD government was using its strength in Parliament to force the Centre to do its bidding.
Chandrashekar Rao said the Congress was prostrating before the Centre instead of forcefully arguing Telangana’s case before the Brijesh Kumar tribunal. “What is this government for? Real estate deals, land auctions and commissions,” he asked, charging the government with total abdication of responsibility in securing the state’s water rights.
“The reality is that Palamuru was never backward, it was forced to stay that way. We will not allow the state to lose its rights, our party and our state were born to protect our rights over river waters. We will not hesitate to go to any lengths to protect Telangana’s rights. If the state government is silent, who will speak? We will. Silence on our part was the story till yesterday. From today, the story changes,” Rao declared.
