As charges swirl, KLIS duel boils over

Hyderabad: Irrigation minister N
Uttam Kumar Reddy
slammed former minister T
Harish Rao
, alleging that Telangana's irrigation sector suffered irreversible damage due to the faulty decisions made by the BRS govt.
He demanded Harish Rao tender an unconditional apology for misleading the people of the state on the Kaleshwaram project.
In a statement on Saturday, Uttam refuted the allegations levelled by Harish Rao and claimed that after the BRS govt inaugurated the project in 2019, only 162 TMC of water was lifted, of which 63 TMC was released into the sea. He demanded an answer from Harish on how the BRS govt managed to irrigate 22 lakh acres with just 99 TMC.
"The BRS govt took out rallies after their delegation returned from Maharashtra and announced that a barrage would be constructed at Thummidihatti. A gravity canal was also constructed from Thummidihatti to Yellampally, covering a distance of 100 km. While that was a gravity-based project, Kaleshwaram relies on reverse pumping — only to release a huge quantity of water into sea," the minister claimed.
He also dismissed allegations that the previous Congress govt had spent very little on the Pranahitha-Chevella project.
He said before the formation of state, 6,156 crore was spent on the project and by 2016, it rose to 11,679 crore.
The minister further said the Central Water Commission had never claimed there was no water availability at Thummidithatti. He said that had the BRS govt completed the project at the site with about 38,000 crore, it could have irrigated 17 lakh acres of new ayacut up to Chevella — eliminating the need for 1 lakh crore for the Kaleshwaram project.
Of the remaining amount of 62,000 crore (if Pranahitha-Chevella was taken up with 38,000 cr), the govt could have completed many projects such as Palamuru, Nettampadu, Bheema, SLBC, Dindi, Sitharama, and other projects, Uttam claimed. He further said the govt was paying 16,000 crore in interest on the loans taken by the BRS govt for the Kaleshwaram project.

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