State govt will complete major irrigation projects in two years, vows Uttam

Hyderabad: Alleging that the BRS govt has deliberately and wilfully neglected projects in the Krishna basin, irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday said that the state govt would complete major irrigation projects within two years.Speaking in the assembly, he said that they were unable to speed up these projects at the pace they want because of the debt burden inherited from the previous govt."The previous govt took out high-cost, short-term loans totalling Rs 1.17 lakh crore and had withdrawn around Rs 97,000 crore by the time we came to power. After our govt was formed, we replaced such loans with longer-term, lower-cost ones and repaid Rs 41,000 crore of the principal amount and Rs 16,000 crore in interest," he said, adding that the BRS govt had wasted public money on projects such as Kaleshwaram and that they still had to repay the principal amount of Rs 54,000 crore and interest of Rs 27,000 crore.The minister also alleged that the previous govt left several critical issues, such as land acquisition, unresolved. "We have a special package of Rs 5,000 crore for land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement, and other clearances. We will fast-track all projects and complete them," he added.Regarding ration cards, he said that they are providing high-quality rice to 3.39 crore people through 1.05 crore ration cards, whereas the BRS govt provided rice to 2.82 crore people through 89 lakh ration card holders. "They issued only 6.47 lakh new ration cards in 10 years and cancelled 5.98 lakh cards. In our govt, the issuance of ration cards is an ongoing process," he added.