Don’t make farmers pay for Kaleshwaram politics: Eatala

Hyderabad: BJP MP Eatala Rajender on Friday accused the state govt of allowing political considerations to override farmers’ interests, urging it to utilise the existing Kaleshwaram infrastructure to lift water flowing downstream and prevent hardship to lakhs of cultivators.Maintaining that his criticism was neither a defence of the previous BRS govt nor an attack on the ruling Congress, Eatala said his sole concern was safeguarding farmers and ensuring long-term water security for the state.“We are not asking the govt to fill the Medigadda barrage. We are only asking it to lift the water flowing downstream. Devadula is functioning without a barrage, so why can’t the govt use the existing infrastructure,” he asked.The BJP leader cautioned the govt against “playing politics” with irrigation projects, warning that delays in water supply could have serious consequences for the agricultural sector. “India is an agricultural country and nearly 60% of the population lives in villages. If water is not provided, farmers will face severe hardship,” he said.Eatala also raised concerns over Hyderabad’s future drinking water requirements, claiming that the city was already facing a deficit of 107 million gallons a day.

He said the impact would not be limited to the capital, but would also be felt in north Telangana, Khammam and Nalgonda if corrective measures were not taken.At the same time, he called for action against those responsible for alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project, asserting that the BJP had no objection to the findings of the National Dam Safety Authority.“If there was corruption in Kaleshwaram, identify those responsible, arrest them and recover the money. But do not punish farmers and ordinary people for political reasons,” he said.The BJP MP urged chief minister A Revanth Reddy and irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy to consult technical experts and engineers before taking decisions on the project. He described himself as a “son of Telangana soil”.