Hyderabad: Minister for Irrigation N Uttam Kumar Reddy is ready to present every documentary evidence to prove how the previous BRS government neglected the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Project, failing to submit DPRs for over seven years. The minister will make a PowerPoint presentation on irrigation in the Assembly during the debate.

In an informal interaction with reporters in the Assembly on Monday, Uttam said that the Congress government is committed to completing the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) with its original water allocation of 90 TMC and dismissed allegations of any deviation from the project's planned design.

"The BRS initiated the Palamuru-Rangareddy project and sought 90 TMC in their own submissions to the Centre. We are following that same GO without any changes," Reddy stated, accusing the opposition BRS of spreading misinformation and being "bent on spreading untruths" about the project's status.

He pointed out that the previous BRS government had halted works on key links such as Narlapur to Edula and had not commenced work on distributary channels/ayacut canals, despite the project's potential to irrigate over 12.3 lakh acres in drought-prone districts, including Mahbubnagar (now Nagarkurnool and others), Rangareddy, Vikarabad, Narayanpet, and parts of Nalgonda and Khammam.

Uttam highlighted neglect of other pending projects under the BRS regime, including the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC), which could have been completed with an additional Rs 2,000 crore, and the Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme, requiring just Rs 900 crore more.

The earlier BRS government also neglected Koilsagar, Nettempadu, Bheema and Dindi Lift Irrigation Schemes. He also criticised the BRS for prioritising the Kaleshwaram project (expending over Rs 1 lakh crore) while allocating only Rs 27,000 crore to PRLIS over 10 years, resulting in limited progress.

The BRS government started the project with an initial estimate of Rs 35,000 crore, but they themselves escalated costs to Rs 55,000 crore by the time the Detailed Project Report (DPR) was submitted to the Central Water Commission (CWC) after a seven-year delay.

These Rs 55,000 crore cost estimates submitted in the DPR to CWC also did not include the full cost of land acquisition of 30,000 acres required for ayacut canals, the full cost of works on ayacut canals, and full cost of R&R works. At present, the full cost of the PRLIS is likely to exceed Rs 70,000 crore.

The minister also referenced the BRS government's agreement in the Apex Council to limit Krishna water utilisation to 299 TMC until the tribunal verdict, and their acceptance of only seven TMC in Supreme Court proceedings (in Palamuru-Rangareddy Project) on certain aspects.

"The BRS took 10 years and failed to complete the project. We will finish it and deliver water to Palamuru," Reddy asserted, warning against attempts to mislead the public.