The Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Thursday claimed that the Telangana people would face severe scarcity of irrigation water and electricity, if Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated.
Continuing his speech on the draft Telangana Bill in the Legislative Assembly, Kiran Kumar Reddy said that some forces have wantonly carried on a false propaganda among the Telangana people that injustice was meted out to the region in united Andhra Pradesh. Unfortunately, the successive Chief Ministers had not taken the matter seriously, resulting in the increase of hatred between the people of the two regions in the State, he added.
“I am trying to remove the misconceptions in the Telangana people and hatred between the people of the regions by presenting the facts in the House”, the Chief Minister said. He said that Telangana State, if it was carved out by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, would become the upper riparian State, and lose to enjoy full rights on the water under several projects. The maintenance of water level balance at Srishailam and Nagarjuna Sagar Project for irrigation and power generation would be possible only through unified command, he felt.
Kiran Kumar Reddy said that though Seemandhra people never opposed, the Telangana leaders were strongly opposing Polavaram Project. The rehabilitation of displaced families of Polavaram project would become possible only in united Andhra Pradesh as 205 villages in Khamman district would be submerged, he added.
Stating that 175 Million Units (MU) of power was required for Lift Irrigation Projects in the Telangana region, he said that Rs.30,000 to Rs 40,000 crores was required for the purpose. He claimed that 30 to 40 percent of power deficit would be created in Telangana after bifurcation of A P. Moreover, additional Rs 60,000 crore was required to complete the irrigation projects which were taken up in Telangana region. He felt that funds would come to these project only if Andhra Pradesh was kept united.
Claiming that share of farmers of Telangana region in subsidy on power was more than the Rayalaseema and Andhra regions, the Chief Minister pointed out that as per the statistics of 20012, there were 17 lakh bore wells in Telangana and 12 lakhs in both Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. The figures have indicated that the Telangana farmers were getting 50 percent of total power subsidy amount. Out of Rs 33,000 crore spent for free power in the last ten years, Rs 19,377 crores went to Telangana region.
Stating that there was no truth in the allegation of the Telangana leaders that coal of Singareni Collieries was transported to seemandhra in violation of rules, Kiran Kumar Reddy pointed out that the Centre was only having the powers to allocate coal to the areas and states. About 185.60 lakh tons of coal was allocated to projects in Telangana, 38.80 lakh tons to Rayalaseema and not a single ton was allocated to Andhra Region.
TRS QUESTIONS C M’S FIGURES
The TRS and BJP members stormed into the well of the House alleging that the Chief Minister was quoting wrong figures.
When the TRS members said that the Chief Minister was putting flowers in ears of the legislators by quoting false figures, the Chief Minister reacted that the TRS leaders were already put the flowers in the ears of Telangana people.
To bring the House into the order, the Speaker Nadendla Manohar adjourned the House at 2.51 pm for 15 minutes. (NSS)