Telangana govt sitting on Palamuru-Ranga Reddy project, cost escalated from Rs 32,500 crore to Rs 60,000 crore: Congress

HYDERABAD: The Congress has charged chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of intentionally not taking up works on Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme aimed at irrigating over 13 lakh acres in the districts of Mahbubnagar, Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda.
All India Congress Committee secretary and ex-MLA Ch Vamshi Chand Reddy on Tuesday said the Palamuru-Rangareddy project completed 5 years since the foundation stone was laid on 11 June 2015. The TRS government has not even completed ten percent of works with nearly 4,000 acres of land acquisition still pending.
“KCR had promised to complete the project within 3 years. But five years have passed and the estimated cost of the project has escalated from Rs 32,500 crore five years back to Rs 60,000 crore as on date. The State government has spent about Rs 7,000 crore only on the project in the last five years,” Vamshi Chand said.
“Who should be held responsible for the delay in executing the project. Now, Rs 60,000 crore public money would be spent when the project could have been completed in less than Rs 33,000 crore,” he said.
The Congress member alleged that the TRS government redesigned the first pump house of the project with an eye on commission and kickbacks. “CM KCR is allowing the Andhra Pradesh government to expand Pothireddypadu project capacity due to which Rayalaseema in AP will get water but the south Telangana will go dry,” he said.
Vamshi Chand Reddy demanded that the Telangana government complete Palamuru-Ranga Reddy lift irrigation project on war foot and ensure 3 tmc water allocation to it every day.
He also demanded that new projects should be designed based on the capacity of the Jurala project and that water should be allocated to the Dindi project without any link to Palamuru-Ranga Reddy project.
The KCR-led TRS government should ensure that the AP state government stops diversion of 80,000 cusecs of water per day from Pothireddypadu and 3TMC water per day from Sangameshwara project in Krishna basin.