Harish Rao warns AP over water sharing row

Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao on Friday warned Andhra Pradesh Government against dragging the row over sharing of river water and said that the controversy would only cause damage to AP.

Addressing a press conference at Ramayampet of Medak district, Harish Rao said that the AP Government was unable to tolerate the construction of Kaleshwaram Project and therefore, it has been making efforts to stall the project. He also expressed regret over opposition parties of Telangana supporting the AP's TDP Government. He said that the TRS Government aims to turn Telangana into a Green State by re-designing the project.

Harish Rao said Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Project was being re-designed to make provision for additional storage of 50 TMC of water which could irrigate about 20 lakh acres of land. He said the LMD and Nisam Sagar projects have dried up which resulted iin loss of crops spread across 2.70 lakh acres. He said re-designing of projects could prevent such situations in future.

The Irrigation Minister said that the Telangana was entitled for 954 TMC of Godavari and 376 TMC of water from Krishna River as per Bachawat Award. He said that the State Government would utilise the allocated water at any cost.

Speaking about development measures in Medak, Harish Rao said that the district was on top in collection of Property Tax during 2014-15. Therefore, the 14th Finance Commission sanctioned Rs. 53 crore for the development of Medak. He 1050 Gram Panchayats in the district would receive Rs. 2 lakh each from these funds. Similarly, he said Medak ranked first in Property Tax collection during 2015-16 and got Rs. 119 Crore funds from the Finance Commission.

The Irrigation Minister also informed that almost 90% works under first phase of Mission Kakatiya have been executed and restoration of 1679 lakes was going on under the second phase.

Earlier, Harsh Rao, along with Deputy Speaker Padma Devender Reddy and other leaders, laid the foundation stone for 4-laning of road in Ramayampet which is being undertaken at a cost of Rs. 7.8 crore.