Telangana Jagruti roundtable seeks action to protect State’s irrigation projects

Resolutions passed to ensure Telangana's water security, including immediate renovation of Medigadda Barrage and full utilisation of Kaleshwaram Project Link-1

Hyderabad: The roundtable discussion on “Water – Facts”, organised by Telangana Jagruthi, has called for immediate action to protect Telangana’s irrigation projects and secure its rightful share of water resources.

The meeting, attended by experts, political leaders, and activists, passed several key resolutions to ensure the State’s water security, including the immediate renovation of Medigadda Barrage and full utilisation of Kaleshwaram Project Link-1.

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The speakers at the roundtable meeting urged the State government to pursue 575 TMC of Krishna water in the tribunal aggressively and convene an all-party meeting to strengthen Telangana’s case.

They also demanded a letter to the Centre and State governments for an Apex Council meeting on Andhra Pradesh’s illegal Polavaram-Banakacharla (Godavari-Krishna-Penna) link project and also pushed for 125 TMC of Krishna water allocation for Telangana.

They also demanded that the Congress government resume complete control of Nagarjuna Sagar, which was under the guard of the Central forces.

Further, the meeting emphasised an annual budget of Rs 20,000 crore for pending irrigation projects, including the construction of Wardha Barrage to irrigate two lakh acres in Mancherial and Asifabad, and a new lift irrigation scheme at Jurala.

It also called for halting Andhra Pradesh’s Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project, expediting Palamuru-Rangareddy, Dindi, SLBC, and Sitamma Sagar projects, and also demanded the removal of retired IAS officer Adityanath Das as Telangana’s irrigation advisor.

Speaking on the occasion, BRS MLC K Kavitha blamed the Congress government for politicising water issues instead of protecting Telangana’s irrigation needs.

She slammed Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for treating former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao as the enemy while ignoring Andhra Pradesh’s continued diversion of Telangana’s waters.

“Revanth Reddy is working like a misguided missile,” she said, demanding that he continue the irrigation projects started by Chandrashekhar Rao, just as previous governments continued welfare schemes initiated by their predecessors.

Kavitha highlighted Telangana’s irrigation achievements under Chandrashekhar Rao, stating that the BRS government increased irrigated land from 50 lakh acres in 60 years to over one crore acres in just 10 years.

She credited his leadership for building Kaleshwaram, the world’s largest lift irrigation project, and for increasing paddy production from 68 lakh tonnes in 2014 to 1.68 crore tonnes in 2023, making Telangana the nation’s top paddy producer.

She charged the Congress, TDP, and the BJP with betraying Telangana by stalling irrigation projects and diverting water to Andhra Pradesh.

She cautioned that Telangana’s irrigation sector was under threat due to the Congress government’s inaction to Andhra Pradesh’s aggressive stance while operating misinformation campaigns against Chandrashekhar Rao on irrigation projects.