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Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy affirmed that all the projects which are being taken up between Tummidihatti barrage and Bhadrachalam on the river Godavari will be completed.
The Chief Minister also announced that the State Government is ready to resolve inter-state water disputes through a dialogue. If not, the government is ready to knock on the doors of the courts to protect the state's interests in the utilisation of the river Krishna and Godavari waters. The CM conducted a review of the progress of the Devadula project works with top irrigation officials today. According to the Chief Minister's Office release, during the meeting, CM Reddy said that former Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for Devadula in 2001 and the works were still pending. "We wanted to complete the construction with determination, but the state was reeling under the mounting debt burden of Rs 8.11 lakh crore. We will release funds immediately and complete the project for which the estimations were already escalated to Rs 18,500 crore from Rs 6000 crore," he added. Stating that the government will not abandon the Kaleshwaram project, the Chief Minister said that Telangana stood number one in Paddy production without using a single drop of water from Kaleshwaram in 2 years. "We are not criticising the government for constructing Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages. Agencies are examining the changes which may happen inside the earth at the barrages," he added. We are taking precautions to prevent any damage in the future. "We also constituted an expert committee. Kaleshwaram is not their own property. It is people's money. We will bring Kaleshwaram back into use". Observing that the river Godavari water dispute has taken a political turn, the Chief Minister said that the State Government is ready for a dialogue with the neighbouring state on water sharing disputes. If it is not resolved through discussions, we are ready to approach the courts. We will do politics only during the elections. We are not hesitating for discussions with neighbouring states. CM Reddy ridiculed the opposition's allegations of helping the neighbouring states in the exploitation of the river Krishna and Godavari waters. "Will any of the leaders who contested and became public representatives from Telangana cooperate with AP? The opposition was indulging in cheap accusations against the government, the CM charged. Reiterating that all the pending projects will be completed in 2 years, the Chief Minister took strong exception to the opposition party's false propaganda on water issues when the government is striving to provide irrigation to the entire North Telangana. We faced numerous problems in the united Andhra Pradesh. All the projects should have been completed in the united AP state but the Telangana projects were neglected. The CM criticised the previous government for not completing the Pranahita, SRSP, and Devadula projects during the 10-year rule. Telangana would have utilised 967 TMC of water if the previous BRS completed these projects with available funds and water resources. The Chief Minister also slammed the BRS President K Chandrashekhar Rao for spreading canards against the government and spewing venom on people for supporting Congress in Assembly, Gram Panchayat, Municipal and by-elections held recently. CM Reddy noted that the government had already held a debate on the river Krishna water issues in the Assembly and clarified every doubt and apprehension raised by the opposition party. Now, the government is ready for a debate on Godavari water in the assembly. We hoped that the opposition would change. Unfortunately, the opposition remains the same. The CM stated that there is a possibility of lifting Godavari water to the Krishna catchment area. Except for Kaleshwaram, the remaining projects on the Godavari were ignored. The Chief Minister appealed to the opposition party to make suggestions to the government and are ready to invite them for the development of the State. We are also ready to rectify the mistakes, if any, during the 2-year rule. "Our goal is to provide irrigation water to every acre of land and drinking water to every citizen", the CM said, reiterating that Congress will be in power until 2034. (ANI)
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