Rich tributes were paid to Telangana ideologue on the irrigation front R. Vidyasagar Rao on his third death anniversary on Wednesday.
Leading the State in paying tributes, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao recollected how the well-known irrigation engineer had raised voice against the injustice being meted out to Telangana as part of combined Andhra Pradesh.
“He rekindled the spirit for separate statehood for Telangana,” the Chief Minister said adding that the State government is pursuing his dreams in the irrigation sector and had achieved remarkable and impactful results already.
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao stated that the irrigation engineers of Telangana took inspiration from Vidyasagar Rao and completed the Kaleshwaram project in a record time of little over three years to make it functional with its head works by filling thousands of minor irrigation tanks, supplementing the Sriramsagar project ayacut. “Telangana State’s emergence as the rice bowl of the country is a true tribute to Mr. Vidyasagar Rao,” the Chief Minister said.
Minister for Finance T. Harish Rao, who held the responsibility as Irrigation Minister from 2014 to 2018, said Vidyasagar Rao gave direction to Telangana movement on the water front by accounting every drop of water loss forced upon the region in the combined States in the Krishna and Godavari Basins. Following his vision, the State government has already brought visible results by taking the Godavari water to large tracts of parched lands.
Telangana Engineers Joint Action Committee and Telangana Retired Engineers Association, in their tributes, termed Vidyasagar Rao as the “Waterman of Telangana”.
“The former Central Water Commission (CWC) engineer is mentor, guide and philosopher of the irrigation department of Telangana,” secretary of Engineers JAC S. Vijaya Kumar said.
The two associations paid homage to Vidaysagar Rai by organising a video conference due to the lockdown conditions. Vidyasagar Rao’s demand for justice to Telangana on the water front was based on the authentic facts and figures and he had laid strong basis for the Telangana movement by disseminating information on the issues of injustice meted out in irrigation.
Stating that naming of the Dindi lift irrigation scheme after Vidyasagar Rao was a token respect to the ideologue, Mr. Vijaya Kumar said the function hall constructed on the land donated by him at his native place in Jajireddygudem would be inaugurated after the lockdown period.
