Harish slams Congress, TDP for opposition to Mallannasagar

HYDERABAD: Irrigation minister T Harish Rao on Sunday launched a scathing attack on opposition parties, blaming them for obstructing Mallanasagar project to gain political mileage. He reiterated that the government was ready to follow the Land Acquisition Act 2013 and would construct the project at any cost.
"In the interest of the farmers and to avoid the delay in execution of the project, we preferred the G.O 123 for payment of compensation.But, now chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has cleared the stand of our government that we are ready to follow the Land Acquisition Act. But, the opposition parties have to take responsibility for the injustice that the farmers going to suffer," Harish Rao said at a press conference.
He said the government was ready to deposit the compensation amount under the Act in the high court and go ahead with the land acquisition, while the G.O 123 was an option.
He took both Congress and TDP to the task saying the opposition parties were adopting double standards when it comes to the issue of land acquisition. "Over 17 villages were submerged in the assembly constituency of the Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy when the Congress government constructed Pulichintala irrigation project. Uttam did not question the project even though Telangana did not benefit from it. The Congress party has no moral right to oppose land acquisition for Mallannasagar," the minister said.
He claimed that the TRS government had avoided submergence of three villages in Thotapalli project by re-designing it. Turning his ire on the TDP working president A Revanth Reddy, who concluded his two-day hunger strike on Sunday, Harish Rao questioned the TDP leader for his silence on Polavaram project thanks to which seven mandals belonging to Telangana were included into Andhra Pradesh are being submerged. "Is Revanth Reddy trying to say AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is great leader after his move on Polavaram resulted in inclusion of seven mandals of Khammam district were annexed before their submergence in Polvaram project?" he questioned.