A latest comment made by Telangana finance minister T Harish Rao on the inordinate delay in the completion of Polavaram major irrigation project on Godavari river by the Andhra Pradesh government vis-à-vis Kaleshwaram project by the Telangana government has kicked up yet another row.
Harish Rao pointed out that the Andhra government has not been able to complete the much-hyped Polavaram irrigation project even after 10 years, whereas the Telangana government has more or less completed Kaleshwaram project on the same river within five years.
He said he had a talk with some of the irrigation engineers working on Polavaram project and they had told him that the project won’t be completed even after another five years.
“On the other hand, Kaleshwaram, which was started five years later, was completed on a fast track and people have already started enjoying its fruits. That shows the commitment of our chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao,” he said.
This is not the first time that Harish Rao had made such comments. In September, too, he made similar comments against the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in AP, stating that the latter was harassing teachers by foisting cases on them.
He also alleged that AP had surrendered to the Centre and was fixing meters to the agriculture pumpsets only to get relaxation on additional borrowings from lending agencies.
Earlier, Telangana Rashtra Samithi working president and state IT minister K T Rama Rao also sought to run down the Jagan government stating that the road conditions in AP are so bad that people who had gone to their villages during Sankranti festival, could not stay there for long and returned to Hyderabad.
Other TRS ministers, too, have been making derogatory comments against AP and its government whenever there is an opportunity.
Even chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao talked about the bad conditions in AP, while projecting Telangana as the developed state.
In fact, there is no need for the Telangana ministers to project AP in bad light while patting their own back. Each state has its own political compulsions and priorities, in administration or implementation of projects.
As a matter of fact, Telangana government has aped the Jagan government in several welfare schemes like Nadu-Nedu in government schools, village clinics, implementation of English medium in government schools, Rythu Bharosa Kendras etc.
As regards Polavaram project, Harish Rao may be correct over the delay in completion of the project, but there are valid reasons for the same including delay in release of funds by the Centre, goof-up in construction of diaphragm wall before the spill-way channel during the Naidu regime and difficulties in the implementation of rehabilitation and resettlement.
On the other hand, Kaleshwaram is just a lift irrigation project and of course, there are a series of reservoirs, but there are no submergence issues unlike in Polavaram. Moreover, there are no inter-state disputes involved in Kaleshwaram.
So, why should the Telangana speak about Andhra projects?
