Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy urged the Centre to allocate 70 per cent of Krishna river water to Telangana, citing the state's larger share in the Krishna basin.
Hyderabad:Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy urged the Centre to allocate 70 per cent of Krishna river water to Telangana, citing the state's larger share in the Krishna basin.
In an interaction with Union jal shakti minister C.R. Patil in Delhi along with irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday, the Chief Minister explained that Krishna basin covered 70 per cent of Telangana, while only the remaining 30 per cent was in Andhra Pradesh.
On the Godavari river, he appealed to Patil to take decisions on granting clearances to projects in Andhra Pradesh only after finalising Telangana's share of water. He raised concerns over the Godavari-Banakacherla interlinking project that has been initiated by Andhra Pradesh, which he argued violated the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
Revanth Reddy pointed out that the project had not obtained clearances from competent authorities like Central Water Commission (CWC), Godavari River Management Board (GRMB), and Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).
He said that the AP Godavari-Banakarla project had not been discussed in the apex council of which Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are members. He made it clear that Telangana would not compromise on its water resources and insisted that future discussions on river water sharing would require the central government’s active intervention to ensure fair allocations.
The Chief Minister stressed the need to protect Telangana’s water rights in both Krishna and Godavari rivers. He sought urgent clearance of key irrigation projects like Sitarama Lift Project and Sammakka Sagar Project, which are vital for water distribution in the state. Failure to approve these projects would severely impact the state’s agricultural land and water supply, citing potential ayacut (irrigated land) destabilisation in the Krishna delta.
In a bid to address the historical imbalance in water sharing, Revanth Reddy pointed out that KRMB’s unilateral decision to allocate 66 per cent of Krishna river water to Andhra Pradesh was unfair, particularly considering that a majority of the basin falls within Telangana’s territory. He reiterated that Andhra Pradesh has been consistently drawing water in excess of its allocated share and sought an end to this.
Revanth Reddy proposed installation of telemetry systems to monitor utilisation of water in Krishna river projects and offered to bear the cost of the new system. He also brought up the delay in granting clearance for the Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation project, which had been submitted to the Centre in 2022. He expressed concern that similar projects like upper bhadra in Karnataka had received prompt approvals from the Centre. He urged Patilto extend financial assistance to key irrigation projects under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP). He also requested interest-free loans for Telangana’s irrigation infrastructure development.
He sought the union minister’s support in obtaining necessary permissions from Maharashtra for the Pranahita-Chevella project, particularly for the construction of the Tummidihatti project.
