Shabbir Ali To Go On 70 Km Padayatra

Former minister and senior Telangana Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir announced that he would undertake a 70 km-long padayatra seeking completion of Package-22 of the Pranahita Chevella project which would irrigate about 3.5 lakh acres of land in Kamareddy, Yellareddy and parts of Ramayampet.

Addressing a Bhiknoor mandal Congress meeting at S V Garden in the Kamareddy constituency on the occasion of the joining of over 400 TRS workers into the Congress on Tuesday, Shabbir Ali strongly criticised Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for not releasing Rs 200 crore for the completion of Package-22.

"The foundation for Pranahita Chevella project was laid in 2008 by the then Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, and as the Cabinet Minister and local MLA, I got approvals for Rs 1,400 crore to bring the Godavari waters to the Kamareddy constituency. But from 2014 KCR has stopped the release of the funds to complete the Package-22 that will benefit thousands of farmers, and which doesn't even have any recurring costs as the project brings water through gravity," he said.

"KCR is not willing to release Rs 200 crore for Kamareddy while the TRS government has spent over Rs 1 lakh crore in the name of the Kaleshwaram project. KCR is focused only on the Gajwel, Siddipet and Sircilla constituencies represented by him, his son (KTR) and nephew (Harish Rao) respectively. He is doing utter injustice to the other constituencies by not completing pending projects there," he claimed.

Shabbir Ali then announced that he would undertake a padayatra around the 70-km stretch of Package-22, seeking funds for the package.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President A Revanth Reddy and other senior national leaders of the Congress would also participate in the padayatra, he said.

The date, schedule and other details would be finalised in a few days, he added.

He appealed to the party's workers and also the people of the Kamareddy constituency to support him in his padayatra.

Shabbir Ali also claimed that the Congress was regaining lost ground in Telangana as all the programs being undertaken by the party were receiving huge public response.