Telangana minister Uttam Kumar Reddy blames BRS for negligence of irrigation projects; says no threat to Jurala or Manjeera, Rs 400 crore sanctioned for upgrades & maintenance

HYDERABAD: Stating that there was no threat to Jurala and Manjeera projects, irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday said BRS was doing false propaganda on the condition of old projects.

He alleged that the present issues were the result of BRS' 10 years of negligence and failure to carry out even routine maintenance, not because of any fault of the Congress govt.The minister inspected the Jurala project along with minister Vakiti Srihari, and planning vice chairman G Chinna Reddy and others on Saturday. He said that no minimum operation and maintenance, such as routine desiltation, sediment or vegetation removal, and upgrades, were done.

"Jurala's capacity alone has dropped by nearly 20-25% due to silt accumulation," he said. Uttam Kumar Reddy said CM A Revanth Reddy personally took an interest in safeguarding the Jurala dam by acting decisively to sanction 100 crore for an alternative bridge.

"The CM's move was intended to reduce heavy vehicular traffic on the Jurala dam surface and prevent any damage to the dam structure," he said.On the Jurala gate rope snapping and stroke gates at Jurala, he said they were non-issues, and engineers and experts confirmed there was no threat to the dam's operations.

He said the Congress govt was sincere and fully committed to properly maintaining all old projects while also building new ones for the long-term irrigation needs of Telangana.

The minister announced that apart from the 100 crore for the alternative bridge, 300 crore was approved for installing a second gantry crane at Jurala, while systematic desiltation and vegetation removal would be taken up to restore the dam's original storage capacity. Work to store four TMC ft of water at Rayalampadu reservoir began, and Mallammakunta reservoir would also be completed shortly.