Hyderabad: Telangana Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy has announced that paddy procurement during the current Rabi marking season has crossed 71.5 lakh tonne, and that a total of 75 lakh tonne paddy will be procured by the end of the season.
Addressing a press conference along with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at the conclusion of an extensive two-day inspection tour of irrigation projects across the Palamuru region on Friday, June 5, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that Telangana has recorded the highest paddy production and procurement levels in its history under the Congress government.
Describing it as a national record, he said Telangana alone accounted for nearly 60 percent of India’s total Rabi paddy procurement, a figure that is expected to rise to around 75 percent by the end of the procurement season.
The minister stated that despite limited support from the Centre, the State government has continued to stand firmly with farmers.
“While the Centre had agreed to procure only about 51 lakh tonne of paddy, Telangana was spending an additional Rs 6,600 crore to ensure procurement of every grain produced by the farmers,” he said.
He further claimed that since coming to power, the Congress government had spent an additional Rs 16,649 crore beyond central procurement commitments to purchase Rabi paddy from Telangana farmers.
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Turning to the irrigation sector, Uttam Kumar Reddy said the two-day tour was intended to prepare a comprehensive action plan for completing all major projects in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district.
He alleged that one of the gravest mistakes committed by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government was shifting the water source for the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) from Jurala to Srisailam backwaters.
“The decision severely damaged the interests of the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district and resulted in huge expenditure without creating even a single acre of assured ayacut,” he alleged.
He pointed out that projects such as Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu, Bhima and Koilsagar Lift Irrigation Schemes in the undivided Mahabubnagar district remained pending, while the Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nalgonda district witnessed little progress for years.
The minister assured the people of Palamuru region that the Congress government would complete the Palamuru-Rangareddy, Narayanpet-Kodangal, Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu, Bhima and Koilsagar irrigation schemes during its tenure.
“We are moving forward with a comprehensive plan. Every project has been reviewed in detail. We know where the bottlenecks are, how much funding is required and what steps are needed to complete them,” he said.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Congress government had undertaken the exercise with a clear objective of accelerating all ongoing and proposed irrigation projects and removing bottlenecks that had delayed their completion for years.
He also announced plans to enhance the storage capacity of Gudemdoddi and Karivena reservoirs and construct additional bridge-cum-barrages across the Krishna and Bhima rivers to improve water availability.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said all pending land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement issues, as well as forest clearance requirements in the undivided Mahabubnagar district, would be resolved within the next six months.
The minister asserted that the state government was fighting more effectively for Telangana’s rights over Krishna river waters than the previous administration. He said Telangana’s case was being strongly represented before the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT-2) and the Supreme Court.
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