AP lifts Godavari water as Revanth pushes Telangana reservoirs to critically low levels: Harish Rao

BRS Legislature Party deputy leader T Harish Rao on Friday accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of endangering Telangana’s water security by refusing to operate the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme despite adequate Godavari inflows.

Hyderabad: BRS Legislature Party deputy leader T Harish Rao on Friday accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of pushing Telangana’s reservoirs into critically low storage levels. 

Contrasting Telangana’s approach with Andhra Pradesh, he said the neighbouring State had already utilised more than 60 TMCft of Godavari River water through the Pattiseema, Tadipudi, Purushothapatnam and Pushkar lift irrigation schemes, while Telangana failed to harness available flows despite having the required infrastructure.

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Demanding immediate operation of the Kannepalli pump house, he urged the government to lift Godavari River water and fill reservoirs, including Yellampalli, Annapurna, Ranganayaka Sagar and Mallanna Sagar, instead of allowing the water to flow downstream.

In a strongly-worded statement, Harish Rao stated that the Chief Minister’s political vendetta against the Kaleshwaram project came at the cost of farmers and the State’s future drinking and irrigation water needs. He held the Congress government responsible for Telangana facing a water crisis in the coming months.

He said the Chief Minister jeopardised Telangana’s water security by refusing to operate the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme despite adequate Godavari River inflows. He attributed the Chief Minister’s reluctance to operationalise the Kaleshwaram project to political vendetta against the project built by the previous BRS government.

The former Irrigation Minister alleged that the government was attempting to conceal its failure to operate the lifting system by repeatedly targeting the Medigadda barrage. He maintained that neither the Medigadda, Annaram nor Sundilla barrages had suffered any damage even during floods of 28 lakh cusecs, and questioned why the government was creating apprehensions when the present flow was around one lakh cusecs.

Harish Rao pointed out that a team of retired irrigation engineers had already advised the government to lift water from Kannepalli to Yellampalli through the Annaram and Sundilla barrages, but their recommendations were ignored.

He accused the Congress government of allowing Telangana’s share of Godavari River waters to flow into Andhra Pradesh despite repeated warnings about a possible drought due to El Nino. According to him, pumps at the Kannepalli station, capable of lifting three TMCft of water a day, were being deliberately kept idle even as substantial flows continued in the river.

He alleged that the government’s inaction had pushed the Yellampalli reservoir to critically low storage levels. Against its gross storage capacity of 20.18 TMCft, the reservoir currently held only 5.48 TMCft, he said, warning that the storage was nearing dead storage levels despite the reservoir catering to irrigation, industrial, thermal power and drinking water requirements, including Mission Bhagiratha and Hyderabad’s drinking water supply.

Questioning how the government intended to meet these commitments if storage declined further, Harish Rao warned that Hyderabad could also face drinking water shortages unless immediate corrective measures were taken. 

He also criticised the government for allegedly underutilising the Devadula Lift Irrigation Scheme, claiming that only one or two pumps were being operated despite ten pumps being available. He alleged that while Andhra Pradesh was effectively utilising downstream Godavari waters, Telangana was failing to operate its own irrigation infrastructure.

Harish Rao accused the Congress government of placing political considerations above the interests of farmers by refusing to use irrigation systems built during the previous BRS government. 

He urged the government to stop “playing politics” with Kaleshwaram and instead fully utilise the existing lift irrigation network to safeguard Telangana’s drinking water and irrigation needs.