HYDERABAD: There are absolutely no doubts whatsoever as to who is responsible for the plight of the Kaleshwaram project, and it is former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and his then BRS government that should bear responsibility for the disasters that the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages have turned into, irrigation and civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
During a free-wheeling conversation with Deccan Chronicle on Saturday, on the occasion of the Congress government completing its first year in power in Telangana, Uttam Kumar Reddy said, “there is no question of trading of charges on this with the BRS. It was during the BRS government that the barrages were built, it was during its watch their use collapsed. Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme’s failure is a BRS government failure. No doubts about this.”
While Uttam Kumar Reddy addressed several issues, he underscored the Congress government’s commitment to the principles of social justice, equality, welfare, and uplift of the poor.
“These principles are the bedrock of every step taken by the government under the leadership of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, and Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. Those searching for non-existing chinks within the Congress will be disappointed. There are no lobbies, no differences in the cabinet, we are all working as a team,” he said.
“The democratic spirit within the Congress and freedom given to the ministers by the Chief Minister have come as a surprise to BRS leaders who were used to KCR’s one person show. All this criticism of the BRS on this and that is just for the sake of criticism.” The BRS may be unhappy, but the people are satisfied. As we move along, our government will do more for the people.”
Uttam Kumar Reddy said one of the biggest challenges the Congress government faced was the financial situation of the state. :When Telangana was formed, we had a debt of `70,000 crore accumulated over 60 years. This shot up to `7 lakh crore in BRS’ 10-year rule. Getting the finances back on stream will take another six months or a year but we will get there.”
On issues relating to civil supplies, he said a similar debt challenge was left by the BRS government which bequeathed a `58,000-crore debt in the department.
“By diligent action, taking the right steps with respect to procurement, milling and other operations, we reduced this burden by `11,000 crore so far. One important thing to remember is that as a new government, it took a couple of months to settle down, figure things out as the administration was left in shreds by the BRS.”
“Then came the Parliament elections and model code of conduct. In all, we lost around six months on these two accounts. In reality, it is the six months later that the Congress government got down to work tackling one challenge after the other, and solving each one despite the enormous fiscal constraints,” he said.
“It gives great satisfaction that procurement of the bumper 153 lakh metric tonnes of paddy is progressing smoothly. Our plans to provide fine rice to ration card holders, issuing new ration cards are in the process,” he said.
On the irrigation front, Uttam Kumar Reddy said the government was gearing up to begin the Pranahita-Chevella lift irrigation scheme – the one redesigned as KLIS by the BRS government — from next summer.
“Our priority is to take up projects, pending or otherwise, that can be completed quickly, provide irrigation to maximum acreage with at the least possible cost. You will see all of this happen in the next four years,” he said.
Responding to a question on BRS’ claims that the bumper paddy harvest this Kharif season demonstrated KLIS’ success, Uttam Kumar Reddy dismissed them saying water was pumped from the Sripada Yellampalli project, which was built when Congress was in power in united Andhra Pradesh.
“Medigadda was claimed by KCR as the heart of Kaleshwaram. It is gone. The National Dam Safety Authority made it clear that in their present shape, the barrages cannot be used. They are unviable, unusable. The same faulty designs, shoddy construction and lack of maintenance at Medigadda was repeated with the other two barrages,” he said.
