Hyderabad, June 4 (Hydnow): TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao for his failure to fill the Manjeera project with Godavari River water.
He was speaking to media persons after he, along with other senior Congress leaders including Sangareddy MLA Jagga Reddy were arrested by the police so as to prevent their visit to Manjeera Dam on Thursday.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that it was due to the negligence of the TRS Government that it has turned dry. “CM KCR had announced several times, both in the Assembly and outside, that the Manjeera project would be filled up with Godavari water. Today the Manjeera Project is bone dry. The groundwater has also reached very low levels in Andhole, Narayankhed, Zaheerabad, Patancheruvu , Narsapur, Medak and Sangareddy. All these constituencies do not have irrigation or even drinking water now. Borewells are being dug up to 1200 feet to get water,” he said.
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Further, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that in Sanga Reddy and Patancheruvu constituencies, people were facing problems not only due to shortage of water, but the industrial labour in many major industries such as in BHEL, BDL, Ordnance Factories Ltd, etc., were facing lot of inconvenience.
He said KCR has been making false claims on irrigation facilities. He said the existing Ayacut in Telangana was in existence at the time of its formation and TRS Government did not add an acre to it. Instead, he said KCR constructed Kaleshwaram and other projects only for commissions. He said KCR has been announcing that his government would make optimum utilisation of Godavari River water. However, KCR neglected Manjeera Dam and deprived it of Godavari River water. He said people in Sangareddy and other constituencies, including Greater Hyderabad, would face severe hardship this summer if there was no water in Manjeera Dam.
Uttam condemns police behaviour
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Uttam Kumar Reddy has condemned the behaviour of Telangana Police and described the arrests of Congress leaders today as completely illegal. He said that the Congress leaders had a right to visit the Manjeera Dam or any other irrigation project for inspection. However, police have been acting in a partisan manner by preventing the Congress leaders from visiting those places. He alleged that the State Police has apparently turned into KCR’s personal force.
He said when police could permit leaders of the ruling party to visit project sites then why the Congress leaders were being denied permission. He said over 2,000 people participated in the inauguration of Konda Pochamma Sagar project recently by the Chief Minister. He said the lockdown norms were openly violated with the Chief Minister himself not wearing a mask or maintaining social distance. He said police should’ve booked a suo moto case or at least the Chief Minister and other participants should’ve been fined Rs. 1,000 for not nearing the masks as it is being done with common people. However, the TRS leaders were permitted to flout all rules and police have been trying to suppress the voice of opposition parties, especially the Congress party.
The TPCC Chief said that TRS leaders have embezzled thousands of crores in the name of new irrigation projects or re-designing. He said more than Rs. 1 lakh crore were spent on Kaleshwaram which did not irrigate even one acre of land so far. However, he said pending projects of previous Congress regimes were left abandoned although 80% works have been completed.
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Uttam Kumar Reddy, along with MLA Jagga Reddy and other leaders were detained at BDL Bhanur Police Station in Patancheruvu constituency after their arrest. (Hydnow)