Harish Rao accuses Congress of neglecting Kaleshwaram

BRS deputy floor leader T Harish Rao termed the Congress government’s renewed engagement with Maharashtra over the proposed Tummidihatti project as diversionary politics to cover up its failure to revive the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. He asserted that the Kaleshwaram project remained Telangana’s only lifeline to mitigate drought.

He rubbished the government’s arguments on water availability, questioning why it failed to lift water when flows were better. He also called the government’s argument blaming El Nino for drought conditions a lame excuse and demanded the release of a white paper on water flows in the Godavari and Krishna rivers over the last five months.Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan on Monday, Harish Rao held the Congress government squarely responsible for the drought conditions. He pointed out that the ruling Congress had kept the Kaleshwaram project idle for nearly three years to deny credit to BRS chief and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. He urged the government to set aside politics and prioritise water supply to people. He demanded the immediate resumption of water lifting from the Kannepalli pump house, besides repairs to the Medigadda barrage.

Dismissing the government’s El Nino argument as an excuse,



he questioned why Telangana had announced a crop holiday despite a 17 per cent rainfall deficiency, while downstream Andhra Pradesh, with a reported 33 per cent deficiency, had not. He demanded that the government disclose water availability, pump operating hours and the quantity lifted, alleging that its failure to utilise available water had aggravated the drought.

The former Irrigation Minister sought white papers on the operation of the Devadula and Kalwakurthy lift irrigation schemes. He alleged that effective operation of Devadula could have irrigated parts of the erstwhile Karimnagar district and large areas of the erstwhile Warangal district. He said that at Kalwakurthy, only two of the five motors were operating, with pumping restricted to 12 hours a day.

Contrasting this with Andhra Pradesh’s use of the Pattiseema lift scheme, he asked why Telangana was not operating its irrigation projects effectively. He stated that the Congress government was allowing water to flow downstream while farmers faced challenges.

He also alleged that retired engineers who recommended operating the Kannepalli pumps had been threatened with punitive action. He urged the government to stop political diversions and safeguard the State’s interests.