BRS Leaders Accuse Congress Govt of Neglecting Farmers, Scrapping Pharma City
T. Harish Rao attacks Telangana Congress govt over failure to manage flood water in rainy weather; KTR lashes out at cancellation of Pharma City to make way to Future City real estate dream and promises to fight the farmers.
Hyderabad: A terse-media address by Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders T. Harish Rao and K.T. Rama Rao (KTR), sharply attacked the Telangana Congress government on perceived mismanagement of irrigation resources and the contentious decision to scrap off the Pharma City project.
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Allegations of Floodwater Misuse
Former irrigation minister and present BRS MLA, T. Harish Rao blamed the Congress government for criminal negligence in handling floodwater. He has pointed out that even though river Krishna (I) and river Godavari (I) are experiencing abundant flows exceeding 62000 cusecs at Sripada Yellampalli and 1.5 lakh cusecs at Kadem there was a fallacy by the government in operating pumps on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) so as to store reservoirs. Rao referred to such lack of action as a political strategy that sought to discredit the project and put the lives of the farmers at risk in the future.
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Pharma City’s Demise Sparks Controversy
In the meantime, the BRS working president, KTR criticized the cancellation of the Hyderabad Pharma City project by the Congress government in favor of a proposed so-called Future City. He claimed that the new development is a pretext of acquiring public land to use it on creating residential facilities and not explaining the government motive would work negatively to all farmers and the common good. KTR promised that BRS would fight the rights of farmers in case the government fails to redress their grievances in a timely manner.
What This Means for Telangana
Agricultural Vulnerability: Lack of utilization of reservoirs of floodwater poses a risk to sowing cycles and sub-livelihood of farmers especially with the perspective of Rabi and Vanakalam seasons.
Chalking up Pharma City: Abandonment of a project that was to lead to high level of employment and economic boom causes doubts more so among the farmers who had contributed land.
Increasing Political Contention: The phenomena increase the tension between the parties and are posing pressure on the Congress government to be very responsive to criticism.
Looking Ahead
With monsoon rains extending, focus will be on whether Congress takes corrective measure- energising irrigation infrastructure, and laying out the long-term vision of its urban planning. In case of silence, BRS is willing to take the matter even further in order to defend the interests of the farmers and win back social faith.
