Former Telangana minister T Harish Rao has alleged that migration from the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district, commonly known as Palamuru, has begun to rise again because farmers are not receiving adequate irrigation water and electricity. He claimed that nearly 40 Dalit families from a village in Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s home district had migrated to Karnataka in search of livelihoods.
Rao, a Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader, made the allegations at a media conference after visiting Induvasi village in Gadwal district. He had met the families of two migrant labourers who died in an accident in Yadagir, Karnataka, and provided financial assistance to their relatives, according to the Times of India report.
Rao said irrigation projects including Kalwakurthy, Nettampadu and Bheema were not being operated at full capacity. He alleged that this had reduced water availability in tail-end ayacut areas, leaving farmers without sufficient water for standing crops. Ayacut refers to the agricultural command area served by an irrigation project.
The BRS leader also claimed that several villages were experiencing severe interruptions in agricultural power supply. According to BRS leaders cited in the report, farmers were not receiving even six to seven hours of quality electricity in some areas. They alleged that irregular supply and low voltage were damaging transformers and agricultural pump sets, while crops were drying up.
Rao attributed the situation to what he described as administrative failure, rejecting the state government’s contention that El Niño conditions were responsible for the drought-like conditions. BRS leaders instead blamed coal shortages, mismanagement of irrigation resources and the incomplete works of the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme.
The Palamuru-Rangareddy project has been presented by successive governments as a major intervention for water-stressed areas of southern Telangana. Rao alleged that the remaining works had not been completed, despite claims that the project was largely finished during the previous BRS regime. He said completion would have improved the district’s protection against water scarcity, but the report does not include an independent assessment of the project’s current operational status.
Rao said Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had promised to restore Palamuru’s past prosperity after taking office, but alleged that inadequate irrigation, unreliable farm power and a shortage of employment opportunities were reviving migration. The report did not include a response from the Telangana government to the allegations regarding project operations, power supply or migration levels.
He demanded round-the-clock electricity for agriculture, irrigation water for standing crops and an ex gratia payment of ₹10 lakh to the families of migrant workers who died in accidents. He also warned that the BRS would intensify its agitation in support of farmers and affected families if corrective measures were not taken immediately.
