Harish Rao tours withered Palamuru fields, blames Congress government for paddy loss

Former Minister and BRS Legislative Party Deputy Floor Leader T. Harish Rao on Monday inspected large tracts of dried-up paddy fields in Veltur and Alwala villages of Pedda Mandadi mandal in Wanaparthy district, where farmers said standing crops had failed at the grain-filling stage for want of irrigation water.

Accompanied by a team of party leaders from the undivided Mahabubnagar district, Mr. Harish Rao met affected farmers in the fields. According to the party's account of the visit, several farmers broke down while showing the withered crop and describing how the paddy had dried up before their eyes. Mr. Harish Rao consoled them and urged them not to lose heart.

Former Ministers S. Niranjan Reddy, V. Srinivas Goud and C. Laxma Reddy, MLC Naveen Kumar Reddy, former MLAs Aala Venkateshwar Reddy, S. Rajender Reddy, B. Harshavardhan Reddy, C. Rammohan Reddy, M. Janardhan Reddy and Y. Anjaiah Yadav, and party leaders R.S. Praveen Kumar, B. Hanumanthu Naidu and Errolla Srinivas accompanied him.

At Alwala, a farmer, Kondaiah, said he had raised paddy on three acres and had done everything possible for a good crop, but it dried up at the grain-forming stage for lack of water. According to the BRS leaders, the same was true of another 250 acres of paddy in the village, and of roughly 25 lakh acres across Telangana.

Addressing a public meeting later in Wanaparthy, Mr. Harish Rao said the same fields now lying parched had grown two full crops a year for eight years under the previous K. Chandrashekhar Rao-led administration, drawing on the Kalwakurthy lift irrigation scheme.

He disputed the government's explanation for the shortfall. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has said drought-like conditions have descended on the State because of poor inflows into major reservoirs. Mr. Harish Rao argued that despite a weak monsoon, the Srisailam reservoir received 221 tmc ft of water this year and Jurala received 252 tmc ft.

"The water was there, but the Congress government failed to utilise it in time by filling irrigation tanks and other reservoirs," he said.

The BRS leader alleged that the government had failed to switch on the motors of the Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu, Bhima and Koilsagar lift schemes in time. He said that although Kalwakurthy has the capacity to lift 50 tmc ft over five months from June, only about 18 tmc ft was actually lifted. The remaining schemes together could lift up to 70 tmc ft, he said, but less than 30 tmc ft was drawn.

At the same time, he said, Andhra Pradesh had drawn over 75 tmc ft through the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator alone. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have a long-running dispute over the sharing of Krishna river waters, and allocations at Pothireddypadu have been a recurring point of friction between the two States.

Mr. Harish Rao demanded that the government lift more of the available water from Srisailam through the Kalwakurthy scheme to save the standing crop, and store water in reservoirs to meet drinking water needs. He also sought release of water from Jurala for another 15 days to save standing paddy, and announcement of crop loss compensation for 25 lakh acres.

The claims made by the BRS leader were not immediately responded to by the ruling Congress. Farmers' groups have repeatedly urged both the State government and the Krishna River Management Board to settle water-sharing questions early in the season, since paddy in the grain-filling stage cannot be revived once irrigation stops.