TRS members stage walkout alleging neglecting of Telangana

Hyderabad, Mar 10 (UNI) Members of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti today staged a walkout in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly alleging that irrigation projects in Telangana region were being deliberately neglected.

TRS member Dr G Nagesh said that while there was an ayacut of 12 lakh acres under minor irrigation tanks in the region when Telangana was merged in Andhra Pradesh, it had come down to 3 lakh acres now, ''due to deliberate neglect of Telangana.'' He said Telangana had a system of chain tanks where when one tank overflows, another tank down stream gets filled. He said maintenance and desilting of these tanks was deliberately neglected as overflow from tanks with depleted capacity would flow into downstream Andhra Region.

Dismissing the allegation, Minor Irrigation Minister Satrucharla Vijayarama Rao said there was no descrimination against Telangana.

While 90 tmc of Krishna water was allotted to the Telangana region, the water utilised was 116.26 tmc. Similarly, in the Rayalaseema region while the allocation was 13.90 tmc, only 10.95 tmc was utilised, he said adding that the government had sought a loan of Rs 1,000 crore from the World Bank for developmentm of minor irrigation in the Telangana region.

The TRS member wanted minimum Rs 10,000 crore for the backward Telangana region.

TRS floor leader Dr G Vijaya Rama Rao said the government, which was spending Rs 16,000 crore on the Polavaram project which would benefit the Andhra region, was not showing the same kind of concern towards the needs of Telangana.

Protesting against the ''neglect,'' the TRS members walked out of the House.

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