The Telugu Desam Party has alleged that the State Government is encouraging rampant corruption in the construction of irrigation projects in the name of redesigning of the projects.
Telangana Telugu Desam Party working president A. Revanth Reddy charged the government with continuing the corrupt practices of the erstwhile government headed by former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in turning the projects as money spinners.
The TDP exposed corruption in irrigation projects during the previous regime and the same is vindicated by the reports released by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, he said.
He alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao led State Government had opted for redesign of the projects in the lure of kickbacks to the tune of Rs.15,000 crore. The previous governments had provided water to over 50 lakh acres through irrigation projects and there is scope for enhancing the acreage by another 30 lakh acres if the government is willing to spend Rs.7,500 crore, he said.
The CAG reports confirmed the same, but the government is more concerned about receiving kickbacks and is hence, going ahead with the redesigning of the projects. While the “illegal” projects constructed upstream of Krishna and Godavari rivers by the upper riparian States could cause immense harm to the interests of the State, the Chief Minister, however, certified those constructions, he alleged.
“The government should have instead taken a legal recourse to stop Maharashtra and Karnataka governments from constructing the projects,” he said. On the power point presentation made by the Chief Minister in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, he said it was a unilateral show by Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao.
The TDP leaders sought the Speaker’s permission to make power point presentation on the irrigation projects in the past, but were denied an opportunity to do so. The TDP is prepared for a debate on the irrigation projects at a venue and time of choice of the ruling party, but the TRS government backtracked on the issue, he said.
