Congress, BJP resorting to false propaganda, says Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: Telangana State Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy on Sunday lashed at the BJP and Congress leaders for making false propaganda on the submergence of the pump houses of the Kaleswaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP).

Addressing media here on Sunday, he said that the BJP and Congress leaders are not able to tolerate the fact of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was redesigning and constructing the KLIP, an engineering marvel. None other than the experts from the Central Water Commission (CWC) have praised KLIP as an engineering wonder.

The minister said that both Congress and BJP were making false allegations. "While one says not a single drop of water from KLIP has been given to an acre of land, another calls a scam of Rs two lakh crore in the construction of KLIP as against the total expenditure of the project stands at Rs 95,000 crore," he added.

On the floods, the minister said that the CWC said the recent floods occurred after 500 years. "The CWC data pegged the flood level in 1986 as 28 lakh cusecs. The warning level for Godavari floods at Kaleswara is 103.5 meters. The crossing danger level is pegged when the flood crosses 104.75 meters. The highest flood level recorded at Kaleswaram in 1986 was 107.5 meters. The KLIP was constructed with 107.5 meters and pump houses were constructed considering the high flood level. However, the recent floods of Godavari at KLIP has crossed 108.19 meters," he said.

The minister reminded the Congress and BP leaders of the inundation of Kurnool town in Andhra Pradesh when the Srisailam dam flood inflows touched 25 lakh cusecs. The Congress and BJP leaders are making baseless charges without knowing even the difference between lift irrigation projects and projects, he said.

Niranjan Reddy said that the Srisailam dam built under Congress was drowned in 1998 and 2009. Similarly, the Kalwakurthi Lift Irrigation Project drowned two times. Both the party leaders are talking without consideration that what the State had witnessed was a natural disaster.

He also took strong exception to Congress and BJP questioning the competence and expertise of irrigation engineer Penta Reddy, who designed the KLIP. Calling it an insult to the expert from Telangana, he demanded the leaders to tender an apology. Further, he clarified that the State does not need any certificate from the opposition parties. Niranjan also charged that the Center is acting with vendetta on the procurement of paddy from the State.