Harish Rao slams Centre over delay in finalising Telangana’s share in Krishna River water

Haris Rao said State government would not hesitate to knock the doors of the Supreme Court once again and seek justice over water allocation in Krishna River

Hyderabad: Finance Minister T Harish Rao once again launched a broadside against the union government for its lackdaisical attitude towards Telangana’s just demand for allocation of its share in Krishna River water. He said the State government would not hesitate to knock the doors of the Supreme Court once again and seek justice over water allocation in Krishna River.

The State government had earlier withdrawn the cases filed in the Supreme Court seeking allocation of Krishna River water, following a request from the Centre which assured to resolve the inter-State disputes over sharing of Krishna River water. However, the Centre had failed to refer the issue to the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal in the last nine years, he said.

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Replying to discussion on the Irrigation department in the Assembly on Saturday, Harish Rao said the Centre was unnecessarily delaying the river water sharing issue despite clear guidelines to refer it to the Krishna Tribunal. However, he said the Centre had adopted different policies for Telangana and the BJP-ruled Karnataka in water allocations.

“The BJP leaders are interested in only political mudslinging outside the Assembly and hence, they left the House without discussing on people’s issues,” he said. He stated that the BJP leaders had no answer on the Centre’s discrimination towards the State. He admitted that some villages in Khammam were suffering due to the backwaters of Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh and the Central Water Commission had appointed a committee to look into the issue.

On the occasion, the Minister stated that under 10 years of Congress rule in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, only 5.71 lakh acres of new ayacut was created and another 93,000 acres were stabilised. During the BRS regime, around 17.33 lakh acres of new ayacut was created and another 30.56 lakh acres were stabilised. Another 20 lakh acres were stabilised through rejuvenation of tanks under Mission Kakatiya. Further, the State government is making optimum usage of entire 967 tmc of its share in Godavari River.

“The BRS government has completed several pending projects and also undertaken new irrigation projects which were completed in a record time. People who believed in us, elected us twice so far and will support us for third consecutive term as well,” Harish Rao exuded with confidence.

He stated that Telangana had utilised a total 262.91 TMC from Godavari River through Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme since its commissioning. He said 34.6 km of total 44 km SLBC tunnel works have been completed, while the remaining works will be completed during the next fiscal. The State government has not only submitted the detailed project report of Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme to the Central Water Commission and also proposals to lift water from Vattem to Dindi. Works will be taken up after obtaining necessary approvals.