Hyderabad: Senior Congress MLA T. Jeevan Reddy on Wednesday asked Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to explain why he had promised the Maharashtra government to reduce the height of the Pranahita-Chevella Major Lift irrigation Scheme in order to bring down submergence.

Addressing a news conference here, the senior MLA said that by agreeing to reduce the submergence in Maharashtra, the Chief Minister had compromised on Telangana’s interests in the Pranahita-Chevella scheme. He added that by doing so, the desirable benefits of the scheme might not be achieved.

He said Mr Rao should have spoken to all party leaders before making any decision on the Pranahita scheme, considering that it would be a lifeline for Telangana. He also asked what was the need to agree to Maharashtra’s demand to reduce the submergence of land, which was just 3,000 acres. He said that the Telangana government should have acquired the entire land in Maharashtra and arranged for resettlement and rehabilitation of the oustees, which would not be a huge task given the total cost of the project.

“How does the government propose to reduce submergence if not by reducing the intake dam height by a few metres? If that is going to happen, how can the government utilise the 160 TMC ft of Godavari water it intends to bring to the scheme?” Mr Jeevan Reddy asked.

He demanded an explanation from the government on what extent the reduction would hamper Telangana.