HYDERABAD: Former irrigation minister and senior BRS leader T. Harish Rao on Wednesday challenged Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to hand over the irrigation department to him for three months, declaring that that is all the time it would take to demonstrate that water from Godavari can be pumped to upstream Yellampalli reservoir from the Medigadda barrage.
Rebutting Revanth Reddy’s comments at a press conference on Tuesday on Medigadda and the Kaleshwaram project, he said claims by Revanth Reddy and irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, that the gates Medigadda, Sundilla and Annaram barrages must be kept open because of safety issues are nothing but excuses and lies.
Harish Rao said, “A former engineer-in-chief submitted a report to the government that all it takes is to build rubber coffer dams to hold water for pumping from the barrages. Just for saying so, that official was kept aside till his retirement. If the government has the courage, let it make that report public.”
The Chief Minister claims there is no water in Godavari for the Kannepalli pump house to be switched on as demanded by the BRS, but up to 1 lakh cusecs of water was flowing through Medigadda as on Wednesday, he said.
Water can be pumped from Kannepalli to Sundilla and then to Annaram barrage and from there to the Yellampalli reservoir. From here, water can flow using the rest of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) system to other parts of the state, Harish Rao said.
The government must also explain why despite 1 lakh cusecs of Godavari flood water available at Sammakka Barrage, the government is lifting only 900 cusecs through Devadula project instead of the allowed 2,542 cusecs leaving farmers in erstwhile Warangal district without irrigation, he said.
He also demanded that the Chief Minister produce at least a single official letter proving Maharashtra approved Tummidihatti barrage at 152 metres under Congress rule.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
