Government's Foolish Policies Led To Water Crisis In Telangana: KCR

Former CM K Chandrashekar Rao today alleged that the foolish policies of the State government had led to the water crisis in Telangana.

As part of the "KCR Polam Baata" program, he toured various parts of the combined Karimnagar district on Friday. He inspected the dried-up crops of the farmers at various places during his visit.

He later addressed a press conference.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that the BRS government had created water bodies and provided irrigation and drinking water to the people in Karimnagar district. "Now in just four to five months, why have those water bodies turned into deserts?" he asked.

"When I came to Karimnagar five-and-a-half years ago, I had clearly said one thing at a press conference in the town. Just before that, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra Fadnavis, AP Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, the then Governor Narasimhan and I had jointly inaugurated the Kaleshwaram project. I then came to Karimnagar and spoke with the media. I said that with the completion of Kaleswaram, there would be no more problems for water in this district, and that the four living streams of water in the district would be golden streams and would continuously save the district. We created those living springs. The people of the district have experienced the consequences," he said.

"One of the four living fountains is the Maneru river. Starting at the Upper Maneru reservoir and joining the Godavari near the Annaram barrage, it is constantly filled with water. The second waterway is the flood flow canal. Apart from completing the flood flow canal which had been pending for decades, we had converted the flood flow canal into a reservoir in the name of the Sriram Sagar Rejuvenation Scheme, and made it a reservoir to fill one and a half TMC of water throughout the year. The Kakatiya canal flows like a pregnant woman for nine to nine-and-a-half months a year. It is the third living fountain. With the completion of the unfinished Yellampally project and the revival of the barrages built on the Godavari, the incomplete Yellampally project and the rejuvenation of the SSRSP to be filled up from Kaleswaram, the river Godavari was full of water for 200 km. It is the fourth living golden stream. The entire public knows how these four streams were full and how the people experienced them in the last five to six years," he added.

He said that Karimnagar's people, who had created so many reservoirs, got good results for four to five years, harvested lakhs of tons of grain, and enjoyed as much drinking water as they wanted.

"But now what is happening now within just four to five months," he said. "The State is witnessing drought due to the foolish, inefficient, stupid and cheap policies of the government, and because of its incompetence."