A delegation of Party leaders led by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday visited Vemulaghat in Medak to express solidarity with the farmers who have been protesting against the State government's proposed Mallanna Sagar reservoir for over two months.
Addressing the "solidarity meet", Reddy lashed out at the TRS-led government for taking a "unilateral" decision on the project despite severe opposition from the land owners and farmers of the adjacent areas. He questioned Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's rationale behind "grabbing" fertile lands that yielded two crops this season, to construct a reservoir that would help produce only one crop.
The TPCC chief demanded that the State government compensate the farmers according to the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and vowed that the Congress would fight until this happened.
Also, accusing the government of serious financial irregularites, Reddy said that the previous Congress government had started the Pranahitha-Chevella reservoir works to irrigate 16.4 lakh acres of land with a spending of Rs. 38,000 crores, but that the current government had increased the project cost to Rs. 83,000 crores by redesigning and shifting it to Medigadda near Kaleshwaram without any significant increase in the lands that would be irrigated. He claimed that this would put a huge burden on the State treasury.
Leader Of Opposition in the Telangana State Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir, former Deputy CM Damodar Rajanarsimha, MLAs T Jeevan Reddy and D K Aruna, and other senior leaders were part of the delegation.