Chief Minister Revanth Reddy made a strong statement regarding his commitment to the people of Telangana, saying “I swear by God: as long as I am in this position, I will not allow any injustice to the rights of the people of Telangana.” Addressing critics who mock his English-speaking abilities, the CM drew a comparison with football legend Messi, stating that even the global sports icon doesn’t speak English fluently but excels at his game. The Chief Minister was speaking about critical water resource management decisions that have impacted the state.
The CM revealed significant details about the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project, highlighting how its source was controversially changed from Jurala to Srisailam, similar to the Kaleshwaram project’s shift to Medigadda. According to the CM, if the project had been constructed with Jurala as the source, the estimated cost for pumps would have been ₹5,185 crore. However, after the source was shifted to Srisailam, the number of pumps and lifts increased substantially, raising the estimates to ₹10,335 crore for 37 pumps. The original plan approved by the united state government involved diverting 70 TMCs of floodwater at the rate of 2 TMCs per day from Jurala to provide irrigation.
The Engineering Staff College of India (ESCI) was initially entrusted through a government order to conduct surveys and prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Palamuru project using 70 TMCs of floodwater from Jurala. Telangana movement activists and experts from the Telangana Retired Engineers Forum had suggested constructing the Palamuru-Rangareddy project with Jurala as the source. However, twenty-six days later, the then Chief Minister KCR diverted the project according to his own plan, and orders were issued to change the source from Jurala to Srisailam. The first proposal to construct the project was made in 2009 when then MP Vithal Rao wrote a letter to Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
CM Revanth Reddy made serious allegations regarding water allocation decisions made by the previous government. He stated that when 490 TMCs were allocated to Telangana in the united state, after the formation of Telangana state, once KCR and Harish Rao took charge, they effectively “wrote a death warrant for the people of Telangana.” In an inter-state meeting held under the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti in June 2015, the previous government agreed to just 299 TMCs. Out of the 811 TMCs allocated to undivided Andhra Pradesh, instead of demanding Telangana’s rightful 490 TMCs, they agreed to and signed for only 299 TMCs.
The CM further revealed that at the Apex Council meeting held on 21.09.2016, KCR agreed that 299 TMCs were sufficient as temporary water allocations. At the second Apex Council meeting on 06.10.2020, he again agreed permanently to continue with the same allocations. These decisions, according to CM Revanth Reddy, have had lasting implications for water resource management and irrigation facilities in Telangana state.
