Palamuru Project turns new flashpoint in Congress, BRS political war

metro india news  I hyderabad

A fresh political battle has erupted between the ruling Congress government in Telangana and the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi over the long pending Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, with the project now emerging as the latest flashpoint in the escalating rivalry between the two parties. While the Congress government is attempting to project urgency in completing the irrigation scheme, the BRS has accused it of waking up to the issue only after spending nearly half of its five-year term in office.

The latest round of confrontation began after Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy conducted a high level review meeting with ministers, MLAs and officials and directed them to expedite pending irrigation works in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district. Stressing the importance of completing the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme and other projects, the Chief Minister instructed officials to undertake field visits and complete land acquisition on a war footing. He assured that the government would release the required funds for land acquisition and clear all pending bills related to the projects.

Revanth Reddy also directed district ministers to closely monitor irrigation works and hold regular reviews with officials to ensure faster progress. The review meeting was attended by ministers, ruling party legislators and senior bureaucrats including Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao.

However, the review immediately triggered sharp political criticism from the BRS, which alleged that the Congress government woke up to the importance of the Palamuru projects only after spending nearly half of its five year term in office.

Former minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy launched a blistering attack on the Congress government, claiming that the ruling party had deliberately neglected the project for the last two and a half years. He alleged that nearly 90 percent of the Palamuru Rangareddy project had already been completed during the previous BRS regime and that the Congress government failed to complete the remaining works despite repeated demands.

According to the BRS leader, the delay in execution has not only escalated the project cost but also deprived farmers of irrigation benefits. He alleged that if the pending works had been completed on time, reservoirs at Narlapur, Yedula, Vattem and Karivena could have stored nearly 45 TMC of water this year itself.

The opposition party also accused the Congress government of cancelling canal tenders and failing to take up even basic construction activity over the last two and a half years. The BRS argued that the sudden review by the Chief Minister came only after the party announced its proposed “Poru Bata” padayatra from Narlapur to Udandapur to highlight the alleged neglect of Palamuru irrigation projects.

BRS leaders claimed that growing public pressure and the possibility of farmer protests forced the Congress government to respond. The party has now decided to intensify its agitation, demanding immediate completion of pending works, repairs to damaged motors in the Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme and operationalisation of all pumping systems before the upcoming agricultural season. The Congress, on the other hand, is attempting to project itself as serious about completing pending irrigation infrastructure and addressing long standing land acquisition hurdles that slowed progress earlier.

The confrontation reflects how irrigation politics continues to dominate Telangana’s political landscape, especially in the drought-affected Palamuru region where water projects carry enormous electoral and emotional significance. With both Congress and BRS seeking ownership of the project and trying to position themselves as protectors of farmers’ interests, the Palamuru Rangareddy scheme has become a major political battleground ahead of future electoral contests in the state.

Uttam targets fast track completion of Palamuru projects

The Telangana Government has accorded top priority to irrigation projects in the Palamuru region to address the long standing backwardness and recurring drought conditions in the area, Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said on Tuesday.

The Minister chaired an extensive review meeting at the Secretariat on the status of irrigation projects in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district. Ministers Jupally Krishna Rao and Vakiti Srihari, senior irrigation officials and MLAs from the region participated in the meeting.

Uttam Kumar Reddy assured the elected representatives that the government was closely monitoring the progress of irrigation projects in the Palamuru region and taking sustained efforts to resolve execution bottlenecks. He stated that the projects were being treated on par with priority schemes such as Devadula, SLBC and Sitarama projects, with the government making all-out efforts to complete them at the earliest.

The Minister said the Congress government was committed to correcting the injustice done to the Palamuru region during the previous BRS government’s ten year rule. He announced that another dedicated review meeting on Palamuru projects would be held within a fortnight to reassess priorities and speed up implementation.

Highlighting the importance of the Jurala Project, Uttam Kumar Reddy said severe sedimentation had reduced the reservoir’s storage capacity to below eight TMC. He informed that the State Government had already written to the Ministry of Jal Shakti seeking inclusion of the Jurala Project under the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) programme for dam rehabilitation and improvement works. He expressed confidence that desiltation under DRIP would enhance dam safety, storage capacity and operational efficiency. Rejecting BRS claims that the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme was 90 per cent complete, Uttam Kumar Reddy termed such claims misleading.