HYDERABAD: Telangana’s Irrigation officials are hoping that the Central government gives clearance within six months to the unapproved projects mentioned in the gazette notification issued by the Jal Shakti Ministry. Stating that the State government would submit detailed project reports (DPRs) to the Board, Rajat Kumar hoped that the Centre would give clearance within six months to the unapproved projects mentioned in the gazette. He recalled that these projects were sanctioned by the combined AP government about 20 years ago. “Devadula was sanctioned in 2001. Palamuru Rangareddy too was sanctioned by the erstwhile AP,” he pointed out. The official added, “We are studying the legal, technical and administrative aspects of the gazette notification. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will take a final call on how the government should respond to it.”

Sources in the Irrigation Department recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to the State in the 2014 elections, had assured that if the BJP was voted to power, Palamuru-Rangareddy would be completed within two years.

“So, the Centre should give clearance to all our projects in six months. The ToR (terms of reference) and stage-I clearance was given to Palamuru-Rangareddy. We are trying to get the stage-II clearance,” explained a source. Meanwhile, Rajat Kumar also held a review with officials of the inter-state wing of the Irrigation Department at Jala Soudha on Monday.

The meeting reportedly discussed the financial implications on the State’s exchequer, which would be about Rs 400 crore, proposed to be given to the two boards, deployment of staff for the boards’ organisational structure and other aspects. The officials also discussed the provision of the notification that all the projects which do not have CWC (Central Water Commission) clearance shall have to be stopped forthwith. Agri Min rejects notification. Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy said on Monday that the gazette notification issued by the Central government bringing irrigation projects under the purview of the KRMB and the GRMB was not acceptable to Telangana.

He demanded that the Centre should reverse its decision immediately. Speaking to reporters here on Monday, he alleged that the Central government had taken a unilateral decision without consulting the stakeholders. He said the separate Telangana movement was fought for getting a fair share of river waters. Terming the decision to issue the notification as unfortunate, he said unlike in the past, the Centre could not impose its decisions on Telangana now. The Minister alleged that the Union government was playing with lives of people of the State. Their decision would stall the construction of new projects initiated in the separate State, he said. The Centre did not help the State construct any new project in the last seven years, but was conspiring against the projects being constructed by the State, he claimed. Niranjan Reddy added that the gazette notification was against the Constitution and would be detrimental to the interests of the people of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

HYDERABAD: Sending the mercury shooting up in a political barometer, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced a pilot programme as part of the Telangana Dalita Bandhu — a scheme intended for SC empowerment — for the Huzurabad Assembly constituency, where a byelection is due and KCR’s former comrade-in-arms Eatala Rajender would be in the fray on behalf of the BJP.

Though no one knows when the Election Commission of India would announce the byelection dates, the leaders of the Opposition parties are already in the battlefield, flexing their muscles. The BJP and the TRS have hit the streets of the constituency, while the Congress is finalising its strategy.

During a review meeting at Pragati Bhavan here on Sunday, the Chief Minister, apparently intent on having an early-mover advantage, sought to woo SCs by allocating a whopping Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 2,000 crore, in addition to the full-scale Dalit Bandhu scheme meant for the entire State, for which the allocation is surprisingly less at Rs 1,200 crore. The date of commencement of the pilot programme would be announced by the Chief Minister in due course of time.

Under the pilot programme, beneficiaries from all the SC families in the Huzurabad Assembly constituency would be enumerated. There are 5,323 SC families in Huzurabad, 4,346 in Kamalapur, 3,678 in Veenavanka, 4,996 in Jammikunta and 2,586 in Illendukunta. The Huzurabad model would serve as a prototype for the full-fledged scheme. The scheme would have three parts — implementation, assessment of results and creation of a corpus, intended to serve as a fall-back fund.