BRS sets August 11 deadline for release of Krishna River water, plans Narlapur protest

The BRS has given the Congress government until August 11 to release Krishna irrigation water to the Palamuru region, warning of a large-scale farmers' protest at Narlapur. The party accused the government of withholding water despite adequate reservoir levels and demanded immediate operation of irrigation schemes

Hyderabad: The BRS has set August 11 as a deadline for the Congress government to release irrigation water from projects on Krishna River in the Palamuru region. The party warned of a large-scale farmers’ protest at Narlapur, if the demand is not met. The party working president KT Rama Rao is scheduled to attend the protest at Narlapur on August 11, where the party said it would announce its future course of action.

Addressing a press meet at Telangana Bhavan on Friday, former Minister S Niranjan Reddy said the government was deliberately withholding irrigation water despite substantial inflows into the Krishna basin. He stated that around 2.30 lakh cusecs of water was flowing from Jurala towards Srisailam and Srisailam had about 160 TMCft of water. He questioned the government’s decision to discourage farmers from cultivating paddy when water was available in the reservoirs.

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He demanded immediate operation of pumps under the Jurala and Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation (KLI) schemes, besides water release through Jurala’s right and left canals and the Bhima Phase-I and II, Nettampadu and Koilsagar lift schemes. He said the KLI pumps could still be operated for another 200 days and demanded that all three pumps be started immediately to fill Yedula reservoir and subsequently Vattem. He also called for filling around 500 tanks in the KLI command.

Niranjan Reddy criticised that the Congress government failed to make progress on the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) despite being in power for over two years. He questioned why water was not being lifted even when sufficient levels were available for the Kalwakurthy system.

He accused the government of lacking a clear irrigation strategy and alleged that farmers were being discouraged from cultivation under the pretext of water scarcity and the El Nino effect.

The former Minister also questioned the government failure to press for restraint on further works at Almatti pending the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal decision. He suspected that irrigation officials were misleading the government and raised questions over Telangana Irrigation Advisor Adityanath Das who served in Andhra Pradesh earlier, insisting on a no-objection clearance from Andhra Pradesh to take up the Palamuru-Rangareddy project works.

BRSLP deputy leader P Sabitha Indra Reddy and former MLAs Jaipal Yadav, Methuku Anand and Bheeram Harshavardhan Reddy were among those present.