The State Government is working for the people with faith in them while the Opposition parties are banking on courts and tribunals, Minister for Irrigation T. Harish Rao has said.
Speaking at a public meeting at Kalwakurthy after releasing water from Mahatma Gandhi Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme to ayacut at Madaram in Nagarkurnool district on Sunday, the Minister said the Opposition were creating hurdles in the progress of irrigation projects wilfully by approaching courts and tribunals for trivial reasons.
The project water will reach 33,000 acres this year, he added. And after completing the project at the earliest the irrigation potential would be increased by another 70,000 acres in Kalwakurthy constituency. However, the State Government was resolved to complete the projects, come what may since people were by its side. He stated that the Government was committed to provide irrigation facility to 20 lakh acres in the erstwhile undivided Mahabubnagar district to make it an address for greenery and granary.
The minister noted that it was Kalwakurthy area that would benefit most even with the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project. He noted that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had studied the woes of Mahabubnagar people as the leader of Telangana movement and that was why was giving funds in green channel for completion of four pending projects in the district.
He requested the Opposition parties not to oppose irrigation projects as it would deny benefits to people and keep their lands parched. If they had any issues with the ruling party let them fight TRS electorally but not by harming the development, he suggested.
Earlier in the day, speaking to reporters at Jadcherla the Minister said both the Congress and Telugu Desam Party were culprits for not grounding the works of Kalwakurthy lift irrigation project till 2005, although it was sanctioned way back in 1984.
He stated that the TRS Government had given water to 4.5 lakh acres in Mahabubnagar last year and this year they had plans to extend it to 6.4 lakh acres.
If the claims of Congress leaders that the projects were completed 95% during their tenure were true, Mr. Harish Rao sought to know why only 57,000 acres was given water under projects till 2014.