Give Pranahita-Chevella national irrigation project status: Telangana Dy CM

He also demanded the the Centre to procure every grain collected by the state and release funds in time.

Hyderabad: Telangana Deputy Chief Minister (CM) Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Tuesday, May 5, said that the Pranahita-Chevella Lift, or Kaleshwaram, irrigation project should be given national status. He appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant the same in view of his upcoming visit to Karimnagar in Telangana soon.

The Telangana Deputy CM also stated that the central government had accorded nation project status to the Polavaram irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh. Denying the same to any project is discrimination, he said, while addressing farmers during the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a compressed biogas plant set up by Biostratum Technologies Private Limited at Pantalugari Thota in Gambhiraopet village, Sircilla district.

Interestingly, though the project is officially called the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, Bhatti referred to it as the Pranahita-Chevella project, which was the original name coined by the Congress government in the undivided Andhra Pradesh state. After the creation of Telangana, the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government under K Chandrasekhar Rao rechristened it to Kaleshwaram, and also expanded its scope.

“In view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Karimnagar, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Shri Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu urged that the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella project, which was designed during the Congress government in undivided Andhra Pradesh, be immediately declared a national project,” he said according to a statement from his office.

He stated that as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, the then Central Government had promised to grant national status to one major irrigation project in Telangana. Bhatti added that the present central government has a responsibility to fulfill that promise.

Telangana govt purchasing every crop grown by farmers

Bhatti Vikramarka also said that the Telangana government is purchasing every crop grown by farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed by the Centre. hH criticized the Centre for “creating hurdles” in lifting the grain procured by the state and delaying the release of funds, calling it a betrayal of farmers.

He also demanded the the Centre to procure every grain collected by the state and release funds in time, and urged it not to avoid responsibility by announcing MSP only for a few crops and ignoring the rest. He added that the Congress government is putting into practice the idea of producing biogas using paddy straw as a raw material.

“He explained that after harvesting, farmers usually burn straw in their fields, causing air pollution and lowering the Air Quality Index (AQI), and that the government is encouraging this innovative initiative. This, he said, would not only protect the environment but also give farmers the opportunity to earn additional income from agricultural waste,” stated the Telangana Deputy CM according to the release.

Farmers here should move in line with developed countries

Bhatti noted that with clean energy and green energy being widely discussed, farmers here should move in line with developed countries. He also appealed to farmers not to burn crop residue and instead supply it to biogas plants.

The Telangana Deputy CM added that financial conditions would improve only when farmers reduce dependence on paddy and shift toward profitable crops such as horticultural crops, millets, and oil palm.