Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Friday exuded confidence that the Congress govt will get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for 90 tmcft Krishna river water from Andhra Pradesh by holding negotiations, and will also complete the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) in two years.The govt will negotiate with Maharashtra too for construction of a barrage at Tummidihatti on Godavari river to supply 100 tmcft water to Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Medak districts. The CM said this while addressing a media conference and later, at a public meeting, after his two-day inspection tour of all the irrigation projects in the combined Mahbubnagar district. He appealed to the people to support the govt to expedite land acquisition for pending projects.“The BRS is trying to sling mud on me and the Congress govt to stop us from holding talks with AP govt. They do not want a solution to be found to Krishna river water issue. But I will hold talks with AP, Maharashtra and Karnataka and ensure every drop of deserving share of Godavari and Krishna river waters is achieved for Telangana,” he said.Stating that the Maharashtra CM is playing hide and seek and not giving time for CM-level talks, Revanth said the BJP MPs from Telangana, including Union minister Kishan Reddy, should ensure that Fadnavis comes for talks.People of Mahbubnagar district had elected KCR as an MP in 2009 with a hope that he would solve their water problems after Telangana state is achieved. The previous govt spent ₹27,000 crore on PRLIS, and abandoned the project without providing water to even a single acre. “Had the PRLIS been completed and also other projects, 26 lakh acres could have been irrigated in the combined Mahbubnagar district”, the CM said.Charging KCR of neglecting land acquisition and focusing on commissions, Revanth said the KCR govt had paid ₹84,503 crore including the EMI and interest for loans borrowed and spent on irrigation projects in the state in 10 years. Because of the debt left behind by the BRS govt, the incumbent Congress govt had to pay ₹52,120 crore EMI and interest on loans taken and spent on irrigation projects in the last 30 months. The Congress govt paid ₹22,000 crore to contractors for all irrigation projects in 30 months, of which ₹8,000 crore were spent in Mahbubnagar district alone. About 4,000 acres land is yet to be acquired for the projects in the district”, he said.He ridiculed the BRS’ claim that 90 per cent of the PRLIS project works were completed during the BRS govt tenure. “How can 90 percent works be completed when they had estimated ₹55,000 crore to complete PRLIS, and spent ₹27,000 crore, which is less than 48 percent of the total project cost,” he asked.He appealed to the BRS leaders not to create obstacles and allow the govt to complete the projects. The govt will set targets of completing specific components of works of all irrigation projects in Mahbubnagar district every six months, and funds will be released through green channels, said CM Revanth.
