The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) demanded that the State government withdraw its letter addressed to the Ministry of Jal Shakti seeking environmental clearance to the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) with 45 tmc ft water instead of the proposed 90 tmc ft and protect the water rights of Telangana by pursuing for the originally intended quantity.
The Congress government led by A. Revanth Reddy had been working against the interests of Telangana from day one and it had almost handed over the irrigation projects to the two river boards, senior leader of the party and former Minister T. Harish Rao said here on Monday. But the government had stepped back after BRS founder and former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao raised the voice against the move, he said addressing a press conference.
Hitting back strongly at Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for making what he (Harish Rao) called ‘senseless remarks’ against Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao and BRS on the front of irrigation in Telangana during 2014-23, Mr. Harish Rao said. He sought to know the rationale in Mr. Reddy’s claim that the Centre had returned the detailed project report (DPR) of PRLIS in 2023 itself, when seven clearances, including from the Central Electricity Authority, Central Soil and Material Research Station, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Central Groundwater Board, were secured in that year.
He explained that the DPR was returned to the State in April 2023 but the BRS government had reverted to the MoJS within three days and Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao spoke to the ministry officials to give instructions to the Central Water Commission and different directorates and to continue the process of PRLIS appraisal. But the Congress government had kept silent when the DPR was returned again in December 2024 and had not pursued even one clearance in two years.
As if that was not enough, Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Chief Minister Revanth Reddy wrote to the Centre seeking EC for PRLIS with just 45 tmc ft water, the BRS leader said adding that he (Harish Rao) had already explained on the floor of the Assembly how the temporary shares of 299:512 tmc ft water were allocated to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at the time of State formation how the BRS government had been opposing it since 2014, including getting the matter referred to KWDT-II for reapportionment of water.
He explained that Telangana had become number one paddy producer in the country in 2020-21 itself with a production of 141 lakh tonnes in Kharif with the help of Kaleshwaram project. A total of 17.24 lakh acres of new ayacut was irrigated and stabilisation of another 31.5 lakh acres was done during 2014-23, whereas the Congress government did not even give water for 11,000 acres out of 11.61 lakh acres promised in the first two years.
Published – December 22, 2025 08:17 pm IST
