Uttam leads 'Black
Flag' protest against TS-Maha accord on irrigation
Hyderabad, August 23:
The Congress party on Tuesday organised 'Black Flag' demonstration across
Telangana State in protest against the signing of MoU between Maharashtra and
Telangana State on inter-state irrigation projects across the Godavari river.
The Congress leaders held protests before all District
Collectorates and alleged that the agreement was against the interest of
Telangana State. They also accused the TRS Government of misleading the people
by falsely claiming the agreement to be a great achievement. "By giving
over-exaggerated publicity, TRS Government is portraying as if has done a
favour to farmers in the State by signing the agreement with Maharashtra,"
TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy told reporters while leading the protest at
Hyderabad Collectorate.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the then united Andhra Pradesh
Government went into agreement with Maharashtra for construction of barrages
over river Godavari and the successive government was formed by TRS in the
newly formed state, that required it to formalize the agreements again as per
the procedure. "KCR’s claim to materialize irrigation or Ayacut for one
crore acres in the State is a farce and misleading," he lamented.
In a letter submitted to Hyderabad district collector Rahul
Bojja, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that during the years from 1975 to 2012,
successive Congress governments have done several agreements with the
Maharashtra over the usage of Godavari waters and Pranahitha Chevella was one
such agreement. He stated that Congress Government had not only prepared DPRs
for the project but also started the project works with the cost of Rs 38,500
crore . At the juncture of Pranahitha
and Godavari rivers in Adilabad district, at Thammidihatti a barrage of
152 meters height and with a capacity of 160 TMC was proposed. This could have
provided irrigation water to 16.4 lakh acre land in nearly 7 districts in the
state besides providing drinking water to the neighboring areas and 30 TMC
drinking water to Hyderabad in addition, he said.
The TPCC president alleged that TRS Government was trying to
put aside this project which was started in the name of Dr. B R Ambedkar. He
alleged that TRS government agreed to decrease the barrage height at Tammidihatti
to 148 meters and wanted to construct barrage at Medigadda namely Kaleshwaram
Ettipottala by redesigning the entire earlier project designs. He said that the
height of Tammidihatti was decided to be 152 meters keeping in view the
submergence in the area for over 100 years and was designed by technical
experts.
“KCR is stating that redesigning has been done because 1,800
acre land would submerge in Maharashtra if height of Tammidihatti is 152 meters
but he do not have any answer for the 3,000 acre land near Medigadda due to
Kaleshwaram”, said Uttam. On the other hand the Pranahitha Chevella project was
financially, technically viable and water would have flowed on gravity and it
would have cost not much to the state exchequer, he informed.
The TPCC chief alleged that the Kaleshwaram project would
lead to submerge nearly one lakh acre fertile land that is costing the
government of Rs 83,000 crore instead of Rs 38,000 crore in the past design. He
appealed the state government not to indulge in deceiving the people in the
name of redesigning.
Earlier, Congress leaders including TPCC Working President
Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, ex-MPs V. Hanmantha Rao and M. Anjan Kumar Yadav,
ex-ministers Danam Nagender and Ponnala Lakshmaiah, GHCC Minorities Dept
chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail, Telangana Youth Congress president Anil Kumar
Yadav, TPCC Spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin and other leaders marched from Gandhi
Bhavan to the District Collectorate in a rally. They raised slogans against the
TRS Government for its anti-people and anti-farmers' policies. Later, the TPCC
president submitted a memorandum to the District Collector.
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