The Congress in Telangana on Monday demanded that the TRS government construct a barrage at Tummadi Hatti in Adilabald district to store over 120 TMC of water and use it for irrigation in Adilabad, Nizamabad and other districts.
State Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, along with senior leaders of Congress, visited Tummadi Hatti where the then Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhara Reddy laid the foundation stone and pylon for Pranahita Chevella project in 2008.
Reddy told reporters that the previous Congress government had begun the construction of Dr Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella project at a cost of Rs 38,000 crore to irrigate 16 lakh acres of land.
Works on digging of canals were also initiated but the Congress lost the 2014 election and TRS came to power,he said.
The present Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was also in favour of completion of Pranahita Chevella project and TRS legislators and MPs even assured members in Assembly and Parliament that they would fight with the Centre to get national project status for Pranahita Chevella, he said.
However, the Chief Minister took a U-turn after about one-and-a-half into his previous tenure and announced Kaleshwaram project (in the name of re-designing irrigation projects), Reddy alleged.
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Saying that nearly Rs 80,000 crore was spent on Kaleshwaram Project, he claimed the government would have to spend huge amount on its maintenance and operations every year.
"The barrage at Tummadi Hatti could be constructed at a minimal cost and by lifting water up to 15 metres it could be supplied to Adilabad, Nizamabad and other areas through gravity," he said.
"Unlike other barrages constructed by TRS Government which involves huge maintenance and heavy expenditure on power to lift water, the barrage at Tummadi Hatti would be just one-time investment.
By spending Rs 4,000 crore for construction of barrage at Tummadi Hatti, at least 120 TMC of water could be stored, he said.
The Congress was not against construction of irrigation projects but it cannot tolerate alleged wasting of public money, he added.