Drought conditions avoidable with Kaleshwaram water use, says Jeevan Reddy

HYDERABAD

Former Minister and general secretary of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) T. Jeevan Reddy has observed that the drought conditions in Telangana are the result of A. Revanth Reddy government’s failure to mitigate the problem by lifting Godavari water with the help of Kaleshwaram project barrages and pump houses to fill every possible water body.

Elsewhere in the country the drought could be due to the impact of El Nino phenomenon, but in Telangana it was purely man made as there was every opportunity to prevent the situation by making use of as much water as possible from Godavari river, which had been flowing downstream into the sea, he said addressing a press conference here on Friday.

He stated that the Kaleshwaram project was designed to make use of Godavari water in different ways – both by lifting back water into Yellampalli with the help of three Kaleshwaram Project barrages with natural flow of river – even without downing the shutters (gates) – and from Yellampalli itself if water was available there. However, the government had failed to impound the reservoirs even from Yellampalli whenever there was flood, he said.

Water could be lifted from Kannepalli pump house even now by forming a cofferdam at Medigadda barrage as over 39,000 cusecs flow was recorded in Godavari (from Pranahita) on October 2 (Friday). Had the government made use of the flood and filled all water bodies with the help of Link-II of Kaleshwaram project – the network created from Yellampalli to Mid Manair and Sriramsagar projects, Godavari water would have reached many districts, including those in the Krishna Basin and helped the farming community overcome the drought conditions, he said.

Both Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy are conspiring against the people’s interests due to their strong dislike for former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, and the with the fear that making use of Kaleshwaram network fully would only bring good name for Mr. Rao and not for them.

Even the energy sector was being mishandled badly with the Genco’s thermal power stations facing severe shortage of coal and its plans to give away power from the upcoming 800 megawatt unit coming up at Singareni’s 2×600 MW Jaipur (Mancherial district) project. He pointed out that both the Kaleshwaram project, even partly from the Link-II, and Yadadri power plant planned and executed by the KCR government were proving to be a saving grace for the Congress government.