Kaleshwaram row escalates as Harish Rao accuses Revanth Reddy of compromising on Telangana’s Godavari River water share
BRS leader T Harish Rao accused the Telangana government of failing to lift Godavari River water despite adequate flows. He urged immediate operation of the Kannepalli pump house and warned of irrigation, drinking water and power shortages if prompt action is not taken
Hyderabad: Stepping up the BRS offensive over Telangana’s emerging water concerns, BRS Legislature Party deputy leader and former Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao on Sunday lambasted Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for allegedly refusing to lift Godavari River water despite adequate flows. He cautioned that the Chief Minister’s political hostility towards the project was putting Telangana’s irrigation and drinking water security at risk.
Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan on Sunday, Harish Rao emphasised the need to set aside politics and lift water using the existing infrastructure to mitigate the drinking water crisis in the State. He demanded that the government immediately construct a temporary cofferdam at the Medigadda barrage and operate the Kannepalli pump house to lift Godavari River water to the Yellampalli reservoir.
“The exercise would cost less than Rs 10 crore and help the State prepare for the impact of El Nino and possible drought conditions,” he said. He cautioned that unless the government initiated immediate measures to lift Godavari River water, the State would be staring at a severe water and power crisis due to inadequate water for power generation at NTPC, Singareni Thermal Power Plant, and for the drinking water needs of Hyderabad, Ramagundam and surrounding areas.
The former Irrigation Minister also demanded that the government make public an internal communication allegedly sent by Irrigation Department engineers recommending immediate measures to operationalise the Kaleshwaram system. He stated that both serving and retired engineers had advised that water could be lifted from Kannepalli without requiring permission from the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA).
Harish Rao stated that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy had shifted his stand on the issue. “While the Chief Minister had initially maintained that there was insufficient water for pumping, he is now citing the absence of NDSA clearance after flows of around one lakh cusecs became available,” he said. He argued that the NDSA’s recommendations related only to repairs to the Medigadda barrage and did not prevent pumping operations from Kannepalli.
Questioning the government’s priorities, he alleged that political considerations were preventing it from utilising the infrastructure created during the previous BRS regime. He said if the ruling Congress acknowledged that Kaleshwaram could still be used to lift water, it would undermine its sustained campaign against the project.
Drawing a comparison with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the BRSLP deputy leader questioned why the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme was operating continuously while Telangana’s Kannepalli, Devadula and other lift irrigation projects remained underutilised despite adequate river flows. He also questioned why only a few pumps were reportedly being operated at Devadula.
Rejecting the Chief Minister’s contention that storing water at Medigadda could endanger Bhadrachalam, Harish Rao cited retired engineers as saying that storing about 8.8 TMCft at the minimum drawdown level posed no threat. He also pointed to the project’s ability to withstand major floods in 2022 and 2025 to argue that the government’s concerns were misplaced.
He warned that allowing Godavari River water to flow downstream without lifting it would jeopardise irrigation, industrial and drinking water requirements dependent on the Yellampalli reservoir, including supplies to Hyderabad. He alleged that the Congress government was sacrificing Telangana’s water interests to sustain its political narrative against Kaleshwaram.
The former Minister also criticised Revanth Reddy’s recent remarks against the Opposition, accusing the Chief Minister of resorting to personal attacks instead of responding to issues concerning farmers and water management. “BRS has asked the government to provide water to farmers, but Revanth Reddy wants our blood. We are ready to offer our blood if he ensures water for farmers,” he asserted. He maintained that the BRS would continue pressing the government to fully utilise the Kaleshwaram infrastructure in the interests of Telangana’s farmers.
Harish Rao also criticised Revanth Reddy for allegedly threatening retired engineers who had offered technical suggestions on reviving the project. He said the Chief Minister had been quoting a report submitted by the same retired engineers to make statements against the Kaleshwaram project, but was now threatening to arrest them for suggesting repairs to the Medigadda barrage.
