Kiran foresees hardships if State is divided

Faults Telangana protagonists for misleading people on key issues

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has warned the protagonists of separate Telangana about severe hardships the region was likely to face in irrigation, power and other key areas if the State was divided.

He criticised the Telangana supporters, TRS leaders in particular, for misleading the people with false propaganda that they were discriminated against while the facts spoke otherwise.

“I should set the record straight. There should be no division or animosity amongst the Telugus irrespective of whether the State is divided or not,” he said.

Continuing his tirade against the Centre for deciding to bifurcate the State, Mr. Kiran said he had the responsibility of alerting the people about the challenges that the new State would face in the event of bifurcation.

Funds required

The Telangana State, if formed, would require close to Rs.60,000 crore for completion of the projects that are underway. A bulk investment of around Rs.40,000 crore was needed to ensure power supply to the lift irrigation projects.

“It is difficult to mobilise such huge amount if the State is divided,” he said.

In this context, he said the Brajesh Kumar Tribunal’s award was against the interests of the State and the government has decided to approach the Supreme Court.

Elaborating on irrigation projects, he said the bifurcation would not give scope to inter-basin transfer as was being done at present to serve drought-prone areas.

Management of projects during flood season would be difficult as the unified command system put in place ceases to exist.

Investments to the tune of Rs.12,000 crore made for creating 11.13 lakh acres ayacut in Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts would go waste if the State was divided.

On the power sector front, he said there was threat of shortfall of close to 50 per cent at a time when there was short supply of coal, gas and other fuels.

There was no truth in the claims that the coal produced by Singareni Collieries was supplied for power generation in Seemandhra as the fuel allocation was done by the Central government.

“Not a tonne of coal from the Singareni was given to projects in coastal Andhra,” he said.

On the other hand, projects in Telangana region were allotted 185.60 lakh tonne and those in the Rayalaseema region got 38.80 lakh tonnes a year.