Hyderabad February 20,2025
Telangana’s Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, has accused the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) of disseminating false information to tarnish the Congress government’s reputation. He asserts that the previous BRS administration failed to safeguard Telangana’s water rights, leading to significant financial and structural setbacks in the state’s irrigation sector.
In a press conference at Jala Soudha on Thursday, accompanied by Ministers Komatireddy Venkatreddy and Ponnam Prabhakar, Uttam Kumar Reddy criticized BRS leaders for their persistent attempts to mislead the public. He highlighted that during the BRS’s decade-long governance, over ₹1.81 lakh crore was spent on irrigation projects, yet there was minimal expansion of irrigated land. Projects like the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, which alone accounted for nearly ₹1 lakh crore, have faced structural issues and have not delivered the promised benefits.
Uttam Kumar Reddy also pointed out that the BRS government, in a 2015 agreement, accepted a meager allocation of 299 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of Krishna River water for Telangana, while Andhra Pradesh received 512 TMC out of the total 811 TMC awarded by the Bachawat Tribunal. He emphasized that, given 68.5% of the Krishna basin’s catchment area lies within Telangana, the state deserved a more substantial share. This agreement, he argued, compromised Telangana’s rightful water entitlements.
Addressing the financial implications, the minister criticized the BRS for resorting to high-interest, short-term loans, which have escalated Telangana’s debt burden. In contrast, the current Congress government is striving to mitigate this by securing loans with lower interest rates.
Uttam Kumar Reddy reaffirmed the Congress government’s dedication to rectifying the irrigation sector’s challenges. Efforts are underway to complete pending projects, reclaim Telangana’s water rights, and ensure that the state’s farmers receive the necessary support for agricultural activities.
