BRS blames the Congress government. for dried paddy in large tracts in Palamur

Large areas of parched paddy fields due to lack of water for irrigation in Pedda Mandadi mandal of Wanaparthy district. | Photo credit: Arrangmenet

HYDERABAD

Former minister and BRSLP deputy floor leader T. Harish Rao along with a team of party leaders from Mahabubnagar combined district on Monday surveyed large areas of parched paddy fields due to lack of water for irrigation in Veltur and Alwala villages of Pedda Mandadi mandal in Wanaparthy district.

During their interaction, the affected farmers broke down when they showed the BRS leaders the parched paddy and explained that it had failed at the grain filling stage due to lack of water for irrigation. Mr. Harish Rao consoled them and suggested them not to lose heart.

Former ministers S. Niranjan Reddy, V. Srinivas Goud and C. Laxma Reddy, MLC Naveen Kumar Reddy, former ministers MLA Aala Venkateshwar Reddy, S. Rajender Reddy, B. Harshavardhan Reddy, C. Rammohan Reddy, M. Janardhan Reddy and Y. Anjaiah RShumar Yadav, party leader Errolla Srinivas and others accompanied Mr. Harish Rao during the field visit.

Later, while addressing a public meeting at Wanaparthy, he said that under the administration of K. Chandrashekhar Rao, the same fields that found parched rice had grown two full crops a year for eight years under the Kalwakurthy lift.

In Alwala, farmer Kondaiah, who cultivated paddy on three acres, did his best to get a good crop and when it reached the grain-forming stage, it withered before his eyes due to lack of water. It was the same for another 250 acres of paddy fields cultivated in the village and about 25,000 acres across the state.

BRS leader T. Harish Rao addressing farmers who suffered crop loss in Wanaparthy district on Monday. | Photo credit: By arrangement

“Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy says drought has hit the state due to poor inflows into big reservoirs. But the fact is that despite a bad monsoon, Srisailam got 221 tmc ft of water this year and Jurala got 252 tmc ft. The water was there but the Harish Rao Congress government failed to use it in time by filling the Rao reservoirs and other reservoirs.”

He explained that the government failed to switch the motors of Kalwakurthy Nettempadu, Bhima and Koilsagar lifts in time. As a result, despite Kalwakurthy having the capacity to lift 50 tmc ft for five months from June, the actual water lifted was only 18 tmc ft. The remaining schemes could lift up to 70 tmc ft of water but less than 30 tmc ft was lifted. At the same time, Andhra Pradesh was pumping over 75 tmc feet through the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator alone.

He demanded that the government withdraw more available water from Srisailam via Kalwakurthy to save the standing crop and meet the drinking needs by storing it in reservoirs, release water from Jurala for another 15 days to save the crop and announced crop loss compensation for 25 million acres.

Published – 02 Nov 2026 21:22 IST