Not El Niño, But Revanth Reddy’s Incompetence Behind Drought: Harish Rao | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: Former minister T Harish Rao demanded the state govt to run all the five lifts of Kalwakurthy motors for 24 hours from Srisailam waters and fill every tank in the region stating there is a still scope to lift 30 to 40 tmcft of water. He said CM Revanth Reddy should keep his ego aside and politics and to provide operate the lifts of various projects. Harish Rao also asked the state govt to clear the silt in Palamuru-Ranga Reddy district lift and fill water from Narlapur reservoir up to Karivena and Vattem reservoirs which will help to recharge borewells and water for cattle and for people.Speaking at a public meeting at Alwal in Wanaparthy district, Harish Rao urged the govt to release Krishna water from Jurala for agriculture for 15 days to save Khariff crop that is still standing and asked to pay compensation to farmers who lost their crops in drought mandals on the lines of AP and Maharashtra. Earlier the deputy floor leader along with another ex-minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy inspected hundreds of acres of paddy that had dried up for want of irrigation water at Alwal village, Peddamandadi mandal. Farmers broke down as they showed him a crop that had failed at the grain-filling stage. Harish Rao consoled them and later addressed a public meeting of farmers in the village.“Under KCR, this land grew two full crops a year for eight years under the Kalwakurthy lift. Today, even the kharif crop has dried up and it has dried up because this govt could not do the one thing it was left to do: switch on the motors,” he said.Attacking CM Revanth Reddy, Harish Rao said present drought is not due to El Nino, it was brought by a shortage of water only due to Congress party, which failed to lift water and fill the projects. “Srisailam received 221 TMC this year. Jurala received 252 TMC. The water was there, in front of our eyes,” he said.“When BRS was in power, Telangana never drew less than its temporary share of 34 per cent of Krishna waters. Under Congress govt water drawl in Krishna had been 28 per cent in first year, then 27, and this year only 25 per cent. A district that sits on the bank of the river is watching the river go by,” the BRS leader said. AP utilized the Krishna waters effectively and fill its water bodies and projects, Harish said. Krishna water is going to 700 kms Kuppam constituency in AP and but Wanparthy, which is 70 km from Srisailam is not getting water, he said.“When floods hit Andhra Pradesh, central teams came running from Delhi, assessed the damage and released funds. Telangana is facing a drought of this scale and no central team has come. Revanth Reddy will not ask. The two Union Ministers here Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay and eight BJP MPs will not bother. They are two sides of the same coin. We demand that the Centre send a team immediately,” Harish Rao said.ends/