Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. File
| Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G
The State government has resolved to take up the pending and ongoing irrigation projects in the erstwhile undivided Mahabubnagar district on a war footing to provide water to 26 lakh acre as assured in the past.The government has accordingly set a timeline for completion of the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) up to Uddandapur before June next year. The decisions follow Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Minister for Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy’s visit to inspect pending projects in Mahabunagar district. “We are committed to allocate funds and complete the projects during this tenure itself,” Mr. Revanth Reddy and Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy said.The visit, according to them, revealed that the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government, which was in power from June 2, 2014 till December 2023, did not complete basic works like land acquisition which was crucial component of irrigation projects.“BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao cleared proposals for lifts and pumps as they involve commissions. He did not complete land acquisition for any project. Civil works have been neglected and so have the electro-mechanical works,” the Chief Minister said. He said while ₹55,000 crore was required for completion of Kulwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme, the BRS government had spent ₹27,000 crore, a major chunk on pumps and lifts without bothering about trunk canals and reservoirs pertaining to the project.Outlining the burden on the Congress government, he said the BRS government had spent ₹1.81 lakh crore on irrigation sector but did not complete any major project while the fate of Kaleshwaram project was there for everyone to see. The BRS repaid ₹41,118 crore principal and ₹43,285 crore interest, taking the total to ₹84,503 crore, for the huge loans it had raised in the name of irrigation projects. “They (the BRS leaders) claim that 90% of the PRLIS has been completed. There has to be some correlation between the funds allocated by them and their claims on completion of works. The BRS leaders are continuing their efforts to hoodwink the people with their false claims,” he said.The Congress government had spent ₹33,567 crore on repayment of principal and ₹18,554 crore interest totalling to over ₹52,120 crore, in the past 30 months. “This is only about irrigation projects,” he said. The Congress government had spent ₹22,000 crore on works on different projects of which, ₹8,000 crore was spent on projects in Mahabubnagar district alone indicating the government’s commitment to complete the projects. Focus would be on completion of trunk canals as well as reservoirs as there should be scope for storage of water which flows through dams.In this context, he said Irrigation officials were directed to study the bridge-cum-barrage model of neighbouring Karnataka which would allow storage of water that would in turn improve ground water levels.The Chief Minister said the government was firm on taking up land acquisition in the coming days as 4,000 acre more was needed for speeding up project works. The two-day visit had enabled the government to prepare a concrete action plan to ensure that works were completed during this tenure itself. “We are ready to pay good compensation to those losing lands. I appeal to the people to cooperate with the government as works will never be completed if not now,” he said. Published - June 05, 2026 05:22 pm IST
