MoU heralds new era in North Telangana

KCR’s give-and-take approach has made this dream come true. Our CM's vision to constantly hold a dialogue with his Maharashtra counterpart and take proactive measures has come as a blessing for the state.

Hyderabad: Fresh from his visit to Mumbai, where a historic pact has been inked with the Maharashtra government on the construction of five new projects, Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao described Tuesday's development as a new chapter for farmers in the five districts of north Telangana.

Dedicating the achievement to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, the Irrigation Minister told The Hans India that a harmonious approach to the issue resulted in the MoU with the neighbouring state. "But for the constant persuasion and sincere efforts by our beloved CM, this 50-year stalemate could not have come to a conclusive stage. The CM's give-and-take approach has made this dream come true.

Our CM's vision to constantly hold a dialogue with his Maharashtra counterpart and take proactive measures has come as a blessing for the state. With this development, we will be stabilising 20 lakh acre and bring another 20 lakh acre under irrigation. Also, the MoU ensures that a lesser area is submerged in Maharashtra," he said.

The minister questioned the role of former Congress chief ministers in united Andhra Pradesh for failing to resolve the issue, despite having their governments at the Centre (New Delhi), Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. "Our CM has done what these erstwhile rulers in AP could not achieve for over five decades. We have lost out all these years mainly because of the biased stand taken by the erstwhile rulers in Andhra Pradesh," he said.

He refuted the allegations that the TRS government had surrendered to the demands of Maharashtra. "We will inform all members in the Assembly about this historic development during the budget session. We want to maintain transparency on this important development by informing all Opposition parties in the state. "Our neighbouring state has been very co-operative and understanding to the issues raised by them. Our Chief Minister too has reciprocated the gesture.

Works will begin on these projects after a team from Maharashtra visits the state on March 19 to finalise technicalities. We want to maintain cordial relationship with all neighbouring states and are definitely not in favour of litigations, which we have seen in the sharing of Cauvery river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka," he said.

"Our Chief Minister's vision is to irrigate at least one lakh acres in each district, including Ranga Reddy. We are not building irrigation projects to benefit contractors, but to meet the irrigation needs of lakhs of farmers across the state. And, we will not take decades to build these projects.

Earlier, only canals were dug without a clue on the quantity of water allocation," he said. He said Lendi, Pranahitha (Tummidihatti barrage), Kaleshwaram (Medigadda barrage), Penganga barrage at Rajupet (between Chanaka and Korata areas) and Penpahad and Lower Penganga Projects would be completed in a time-bound manner. "Works will be done fast," he added.