TPCC leaders meet Governor, complain BRS Govt's failure to prevent floods

HYDERABAD: Blaming the Telangana Government for failing to prevent floods caused by incessant rains in the State, leaders of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) met Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan at Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum.

The delegation led by Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka told the Governor that the Government even failed to provide compensation to the flood victims.

The CLP leader said that even though the officials of the Meteorological Department had warned of heavy rains, the State Government did not even conduct a review meeting to alert the official machinery in time resulting in large-scale damage.

He alleged that for the last nine and a half years, the BRS Government did not release funds for the annual maintenance of major, medium and minor irrigation projects, resulting in breaches to reservoirs causing the death of many innocent people.

Bhatti Vikramarka pointed out that due to the construction of ill-conceived projects such as Kaleshwaram and Sitarama, many areas in tribal hamlets were flooded. “If the check dams on the Munneru and Kinnerasani rivers were scientifically designed and constructed the damage would have been less,” he said.

He claimed that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) utilised his bureaucracy for political needs and not for the people. The Government machinery had utterly failed to take relief measures in such dire situations, he added.

Bhatti Vikramarka alleged that KCR was more interested in sending special flights to Maharashtra and inviting the leaders to join his party, rather than helping the flood-affected families by sending special flights to the Godavari region and agency areas of Telangana.

“How can KCR visit Maharashtra, at a time when the people in Agency areas of Telangana are suffering due to floods,” he questioned. People would teach a befitting lesson to KCR and dethrone him from power, bringing down curtains on his political career, the CLP leader said.

Bhatti Vikramarka patted on his back for the proposed merger of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) with the State Government and said that the BRS Government initially rejected the proposal.

“It is the Congress party that promised the merger if voted to power. Fearing a backlash, KCR took the decision in his cabinet meeting on Monday,” Bhatti Vikramarka said. He also threatened to hit the roads if the BRS Government tried to dispose of assets of RTC accrued to the corporation during the previous Congress regime.

Party MLAs Dansari Anasuya aka Sitakka, Podem Veeraya and Duddilla Sridhar Babu appealed to the State Government to send rescue teams to the tribal hamlets located in the temple town of Bhadrachalam, and Adilabad and surrounding areas living under the threat of submergence.