The Telangana state assembly on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the Centre to grant all permissions without further delay to Palamuru–Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) being built on Krishna River, aimed at providing both irrigation and drinking water to the drought-prone regions of the state.
Introducing the resolution in the state assembly, chief minister A Revanth Reddy said that the project, which was initiated in 2015, failed to make any major progress due to lack of environmental and hydrological clearances from the Centre, as a result of which the project estimates and construction costs escalated sharply.
“In view of these developments, the House unanimously urged the Government of India to grant, without delay, all pending statutory and administrative approvals for the Palamuru–Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, aimed at utilizing 90 TMC of water to meet the region’s drinking water and irrigation requirements,” Revanth Reddy said.
In a separate resolution, the assembly took a firm stand against any diversion of Godavari waters to Krishna basin by the Andhra Pradesh government, until all inter-state water disputes between the two Telugu states are fully resolved.
“The House unanimously appeals to the Centre not to accord any permissions—under any form or nomenclature—for projects such as the Polavaram–Banakacherla link, the Polavaram–Nallamala Sagar link, or any other proposals aimed at diverting Godavari waters by the Andhra Pradesh government,” the chief minister said.
Making a prolonged speech, Revanth Reddy accused the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi government of betraying the state’s irrigation interests and compromising Telangana’s rightful share of Krishna River waters through what he described as “historic blunders” and “wilful surrender” before the Centre.
He alleged that the BRS government which came to power in 2014 had failed to complete many projects taken up during the previous Congress governments on a fast-track basis and instead left many of them unfinished, causing long-term damage to farmers and the state’s irrigation prospects.
Revanth Reddy pointed out that in June 2015, during an inter-state meeting convened by the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, the then Telangana government agreed to accept only 299 TMC feet of Krishna water. He said this decision amounted to a “death warrant” for Telangana’s future water security.
“Instead of firmly demanding Telangana’s legitimate 490 TMC feet out of the 811 TMC feet allocated to the undivided state, they voluntarily agreed to 299 TMC feet and put their signatures to it,” he charged.
With regard to PRLIS, the chief minister said Telangana activists, retired engineers and technical experts had all recommended Jurala as the source for the project. However, within 26 days of coming to power, the KCR government diverted the project from its original plan and ordered a change of source from Jurala to Srisailam.
Curated by Shiv Shakti Mishra
