Harish Rao Demands Congress Govt Resume Stalled Medak Irrigation Projects

Former minister and BRS deputy leader T. Harish Rao on Thursday inspected stalled Kaleshwaram canal works between Mallanna Sagar and Narsapur, demanding that the Telangana government immediately restart work on pending irrigation projects across the erstwhile Medak district. Accompanied by Narsapur MLA Sunitha Lakshma Reddy, he pointed to thorny bushes growing inside the dry canal bed and challenged Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to inspect the site directly.

Harish Rao urged the state administration to resume and finish the Basaveshwara and Sangameshwara lift irrigation projects, as well as the height-raising works at the Ghanapuram anicut. He called for the immediate release of state funds required for land acquisition, distributary canals, and incomplete tunnel stretches so that pending water reaches local farming communities.

Detailing the progress achieved under the previous administration, the BRS leader said that around 85 percent of the 18-kilometre tunnel from Mallanna Sagar to Narsapur had been constructed under the BRS government. He noted that only about 300 metres of the tunnel remained to be finished, which would have allowed Godavari water to reach the Haldi stream and feed the Nizam Sagar system across Medak and Nizamabad districts.

Harish Rao stated that a comprehensive plan was drawn up under Packages 18 and 19 to carry water from Mallanna Sagar to Narsapur, Andole, and Sangareddy constituencies. The proposal intended to lift Godavari water to replenish the Singur project, but work was halted after the Congress came to power.

He further noted that while the Mallanna Sagar, Kondapochamma Sagar, and Ranganayaka Sagar reservoirs are largely ready, the government has not released ₹50 crore needed to finish the distributary canal network. Providing this amount would enable irrigation across nearly 50,000 acres of farmland.

The former minister criticised the administration for neglecting the Basaveshwara and Sangameshwara schemes, which were designed to irrigate nearly five lakh acres in Narayankhed, Zaheerabad, Andole, Sangareddy, and Patancheru. He added that the Chief Minister recently visited Sangareddy but avoided addressing the stalled irrigation networks in the region.