Uttam slams BRS for Sagar canal’s plight

Kodad: Minister for Irrigation and Civil Supplies N Uttam Kumar Reddy has held the previous BRS government squarely responsible for the poor state of Nagarjuna Sagar left canal, which is hurting the interests of farmers in the ayacut area. He particularly mentioned the incidents at Kagitham Ramachandrapuram and Rangundla to drive home his point.

Uttam Kumar Reddy, along with Kodad MLA Uttam Padmavathi, inspected the ongoing repairs to the breaches in the left canal caused by the recent heavy rains. They inspected works in Kagitham Ramachandrapuram in Nadigudem mandal, Rangundla bridge at the 133.3-km mark near the borders of Suryapet-Khammam districts, Redlakunta Major under Arlagudem Gram Panchayat in Kodad mandal, and the repairs to Muktyala Branch Major in Karakkayalagudem village of Huzurnagar mandal, as well as the repair works of Narayanapuram Cheruvu in Chilkur mandal. Collector Tejas Nandalal Pawar, irrigation officer Ramesh Babu, and others accompanied the minister.

The minister later pointed out that the current situation arose because canal repairs were not carried out in the last ten years, and there were also no engineer and laborer recruitments during that time. In contrast, as soon as it came to power, the Congress government recruited 700 engineers and 1,800 laborers, he pointed out. He in formed appointment letters for the new recruits would be handed over by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy at Jalasoudha in Hyderabad on Thursday.

On the occasion, Uttam Kumar Reddy reiterated that theirs was a farmer-friendly golvernment. From the moment the meteorological department issued a red alert, the goverment machinery went into an overdrive and took up damage control measures across the state. Top officials and ministers visited affected areas and oversaw rescue and relief measures on a war footing. He added water from Sagar would be released from Wednesday.