Water is once again at the centre of the electoral narrative in Telangana since the state is reeling under drought-like conditions. The proposed Palamuru Rangareddy Lift irrigation project (PRLIS) on river Krishna, which will irrigate the parched lands of Mahabubnagar, Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda, has hence taken centre stage as the BRS, BJP and the Congress are involved in a triangular contest in these Lok Sabha seats.

While the BRS and the Congress demanded national status for the project deemed as a lifeline for these districts, the BJP candidate for Chevalla, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, cautioned that it would prove to be another engineering blunder like the Kaleshwaram project and accused the two parties of going only for “contractor-friendly” projects.

According to the current project plan, which has received environmental clearance, 90 tmc of water would be lifted in 60 days at five stages through pumping from the foreshore of Srisailam reservoir during the flood season near Yellur in Kollapur mandal of Nagarkurnool district to the proposed KP Lamidevipally reservoir near Shadnagar.

Utilising the water by gravity, the project envisages creating irrigation potential in upland areas of Nagarkurnool, Mahabubnagar, Vikarabad, Narayanpet, Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda districts, besides providing drinking water supply to Hyderabad city and supporting industrial use. The water from PRLIS would be a great boon for this region which is known for droughts and distress migration. Hence, every politician worth his salt raises the issue of PRLIS while campaigning for these Lok Sabha seats.

Although BRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao laid the foundation stone for PRLIS just before the Assembly elections last year, promising to turn the parched land in these districts fertile, the party facing huge anti-incumbency failed to draw any benefit. The stink over the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project downed any talk over PRLIS. But the Congress right after coming to power again raised the PRLIS, particularly because Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has promised to bring water to his constituency Kodangal. He along with irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy had met Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat urging him to consider national status for the project but they were turned down since the Centre has stopped granting national status to irrigation projects since 2014.

Engineer-turned-politician Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, the BJP candidate from Chevella, however, said that the PRLIS would be another “engineering blunder” like Kaleshwaram. “Don’t make this another Kaleshwaram. One of the reasons he (KCR) lost the elections was Kaleshwaram, and if they (Congress) do I will say please go ahead and lose all elections. These are contractor-friendly and commission-friendly projects,” Reddy asserted. He said it was much easier to bring water from Jurala to Vikarabad and Ranga Reddy instead of going further downstream and then pumping the water back.