Ponnala flays TRS chief for latter's remarks on ministers

Hyderabad, Feb 1 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah today refuted the charges of Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) president K Chandrasekhara Rao that the ministers belonging to Telangana region were ''incompetent and helpless''.

Addressing a press conference here, he said Mr Rao, who has worked as Central and state minister, should not have made 'derogatory' remarks against the ministers belonging to the Telangana Region. He was making allegations against the Congress leaders in frustration, he charged.

He said the ministers from Telangana region were acting independently and taking up several developmental activities in the region in all sectors.

He alleged that the TRS president did not work for the development of the Telangana region when he was a central and a state minister.

He asked Mr Rao to change his mindset while making statements against ministers, who were sincerely working for the overall development of the Telangana region.

He said as a Major Irrigation Minister, he had taken up 29 irrigation projects in Telangana region at a cost of Rs 26,000 crore for the region's development. The government had been spending 50 per cent of the allocations to the irrigation sector on Telangana region.

The minister said the government had provided water to Nizam Sagar, which was neglected for the last 20 years, from the Ali sagar project and had taken up four projects in Mahaboobnagar district. He said the government's aim was to provide irrigated water to 45 lakh acres in Telangana region on permanent basis.

He said the government had provided free power supply to 16 lakh pump sets in the region.

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