Congress Vows To Expose Scam In Telangana-MH Pact

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy today vowed to "expose" Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for his "falsehoods" on the three irrigation projects mentioned in the Telangana-Maharashtra Godavari pact.

Speaking to the media after a discussion on the Pranahita-Chevella and Kaleshwaram projects on Friday in Gandhi Bhavan, Reddy expressed serious doubts over the move to shift the irrigation projects and increasing the cost manifold.

"We invited retired civil engineers and several irrigation experts to discuss the three projects being undertaken jointly by the Telangana and Maharashtra governments. As per their studies, Telangana needs to submerge only 3,000 acres of land to build the Pranahita-Chevella project. Shifting it to Medigadda will only increase the capital cost of the project by Rs. 50,000 crores, and add an annual burden of Rs. 15,000 crores for the Kaleshwaram project. This will result in huge losses for the State's farmers," he said.

The pact would rejuvenate the lands in Maharastra but would compromise the rights of the people of Telangana over the river's water, Reddy said, causing the move to only raise suspicion of irregularities within the government. He pointed out that there was no transparency in the tenders brought in for the the project, and that no global bids were called in. He also wondered why KCR did not seek the Centre's help in acquiring the 3,000 acres before deciding to make an economically infeasible move.

Speaking on the CM's vision to obtain one lakh acres of ayacut for Telangana, he said, "The estimated figure of 40 lakh acres of ayacuts for the Kaleshwaram project is false. By drawing two TMCs of water per day, an ayacut of only 16 lakh acres will be served, and this has been confirmed by the irrigation experts. Why have a vision when you have to make up the facts to achieve it?"

"This pact might turn out to be the State's biggest scam. The Congress will expose all these irregularities and falsehoods," Reddy warned.