Hyderabad: Former minister T Harish Rao alleged that Telangana is facing a “Congress-created drought” due to the state govt’s failure to ensure adequate irrigation and power supply, resulting in crops drying up on nearly 12 lakh acres across the state.He demanded that the state govt immediately declare drought-hit mandals, provide compensation for crop losses, release ₹12,000 in assistance to agricultural labourers, ensure 24-hour quality power supply, operate irrigation projects round the clock, and take measures to address drinking water shortages across the state.After visiting drought-hit paddy fields in Burugupalli village, Gajwel mandal, Siddipet district, on Thursday, Harish met with affected farmers. He reviewed crop losses due to a lack of water and electricity. He accused the Congress govt of ignoring repeated warnings from scientists and agricultural experts about possible drought conditions due to El Nino and of failing to take preventive measures in time.Addressing reporters, Harish said farmers in several districts, including Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nalgonda, Medak, Khammam and Mahabubnagar, had suffered severe crop losses. He alleged that the state govt had neither secured sufficient coal stocks nor purchased adequate power in advance, leading to an electricity shortage during the critical crop season. Instead of accepting responsibility, he said, the govt was attempting to blame officials for the crisis.The BRS leader also accused the Congress govt of not operating lift irrigation schemes such as Kannepalli, Devadula and Kalwakurthy at full capacity, resulting in irrigation shortages and widespread crop damage. He claimed that hundreds of acres in the Gajwel region alone had dried up just as crops were nearing harvest.Citing individual cases, Harish said several farmers had spent thousands of rupees on diesel generators to save their crops but still suffered heavy losses because of irregular power supply and low-voltage issues.Drawing comparisons with the previous BRS govt, he said uninterrupted power and irrigation facilities had helped farmers achieve record agricultural production even during difficult periods.
