Godavari-Kaveri link will permanently forfeit Telangana’s water rights: Niranjan Reddy warns

Former Minister S Niranjan Reddy alleged that the Congress government was compromising Telangana’s water rights by backing the Godavari-Kaveri river linking project before the State’s share in Godavari waters was finalised. He warned of statewide agitation if Telangana’s interests were affected.

Hyderabad: Former Minister S Niranjan Reddy condemned the injustice being inflicted upon Telangana under the guise of the Godavari-Kaveri river linking project. He accused the Congress government of surrendering the State’s water rights by consenting to the river linking project before the State’s legitimate share of Godavari River waters has been officially determined.

In a strongly worded statement, Niranjan Reddy said agreeing to the Godavari-Kaveri link under current conditions risked permanently forfeiting Telangana’s entitlements in Godavari River waters. He demanded that Andhra Pradesh, which was allegedly diverting Godavari River waters under the project’s cover, must formally relinquish its share of Krishna River waters through a written agreement.

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“If Telangana’s interests on Krishna and Godavari Rivers waters are compromised in any way, BRS will launch a massive public agitation,” he warned.

The former Minister said the Godavari-Kaveri link project violated the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, and ignored Telangana’s rightful claims, including 763 TMCft of Krishna River waters as submitted before KWDT-II and 968 TMCft of Godavari River waters under the 1980 Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal award. He said using the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir merely as a balancing reservoir would cause long-term damage to Telangana, while linking the Itchampally, Sammakka-Sarakka, and Indravati projects would severely hamper flood control within the State.

Niranjan Reddy drew a parallel with the Pothireddypadu project in Andhra Pradesh, which allegedly diverted one lakh cusecs from Srisailam against a sanctioned limit of 1,500 cusecs, under the guise of supplying drinking water to Chennai. He suspected a similar conspiracy was now being executed through the Godavari-Kaveri link to divert Nagarjuna Sagar waters to Andhra Pradesh.

He accused both the Congress and BJP of collectively mortgaging Telangana’s interests, and said the State’s MPs from both parties had become puppets of their party high commands, failing to safeguard Telangana’s interests. “The Telangana movement was built on the principles of Water, Funds and Jobs. The Congress is betraying all three,” he said.