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Winter session of T’gana House to commence on December 29
Telangana's winter assembly session starts Dec 29, focusing on irrigation issues, with debates on past projects and claims from both Congress and BRS leaders.
The winter session of the Telangana state assembly, likely to commence on December 29, will hold an extensive discussion on issues related to irrigation projects being built on Krishna and Godavari Rivers, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The decision to hold the winter session from December 29 was taken at an informal cabinet meeting held by chief minister A Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad on Monday night. There will be a three-day recess on the occasion of New Year Day and the session will resume on January 2.
According to a Congress leader privy to the meeting, the chief minister is keen on facilitating a comprehensive debate covering irrigation projects, inter-State water allocations, and expenditure incurred on projects after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
“The chief minister wanted that the government should put the records straight in the assembly in the wake of the latest statement made by BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao that he would launch a state-wide agitation against neglect of irrigation sector, particularly the incomplete Palamuru-Ranga Reddy lift irrigation scheme on Krishna River, during the present Congress regime,” he said.
Chief minister Revanth Reddy reportedly instructed ministers to sharply expose the irrigation policies and project execution failures of the previous BRS government during the assembly debates.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, state irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the previous government had spent nearly ₹27,000 crore on the Palamuru–Rangareddy project without providing irrigation water to even a single acre.
He said the project had no statutory approvals and accused KCR of misleading the public. He said the Centre had rejected the detailed project report (DPR) of the Palamuru–Rangareddy lift scheme in 2023 itself, when the BRS was in power.
“During the Supreme Court hearings related to an NGT case, the then BRS government had stated that the project was intended only for drinking water purposes, following which the court restricted works to 7.25 TMC. There is no truth in KCR’s claim that the previous government had secured approval for 45 TMC,” he said.
Meanwhile, senior BRS MLA and former irrigation minister T Harish Rao welcomed the government’s proposal to present a PowerPoint presentation on irrigation. He demanded that the BRS also be given equal opportunity to present its case in the assembly.
“Do not stifle our voices or cut our microphones. Let the people decide whose arguments are true. If given an opportunity, we will expose the Congress government completely in the Assembly,” he asserted.
