Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has stated that the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Government did not create even an acre of irrigation potential under the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) even after spending ₹27,000 crore on it.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, he said the Congress Government had spent ₹7,000 crore on it during the last two years and BRS leaders including its president K. Chandrasekhar Rao were lying on clearances for the project. The project had secured no clearances so far and the talk of T. Harish Rao that the government had accepted for 45 tmc ft usage under the project was also a lie.
The BRS Government that spent ₹1.83 lakh crore on the irrigation sector during its rule had not created even one acre of irrigation potential, he noted and said whatever water was given was under the projects constructed during the combined Andhra Pradesh rule. He alleged that KCR had cooperated with AP’s water theft with the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme, which was stalled by the Congress Government later.
Further, he pointed out that the BRS Government did not ask for water allocation to PRLIS, Dindi Lift Irrigation Scheme and Srisailam Left Bank Canal project in the water requirements sent to the Centre in 2020. He assured that the Congress Government was committed to complete the SLBC project over the next three years.
