HYDERABAD
The previous 10-year rule of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government had done more injustice to Telangana than any other government before it in the matter of river water utilisation and the Congress Government is committed to undo the wrongdoings of the former, Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy told the Assembly on Saturday.
Making a presentation for over 90 minutes on the utilisation of water in the Krishna Basin more so in combined Mahabubnagar district, the Minister said that the previous government had wilfully neglected the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) during 2014-23, while its focus was mainly on Kaleshwaram project to “milk more commissions”. The previous government had spent about ₹1.83 lakh crore on irrigation but had failed to create any irrigation potential worth a mention.
Mr. Reddy assured the House that the Congress Government is committed to completing PRLIS with 90 tmc ft of water utilisation and other pending projects in the Krishna Basin, such as Koilsagar, Bhima, Nettempadu, Kalwakurthy, Narayanpet-Kodangal, Srisailam Left Bank Canal, and Dindi, over the next three years. He pointed out that the biggest blunder committed by the previous government in the matter of PRLIS was the change of source from Jurala to Srisailam.
He explained that a flood water study done by the previous government had revealed that over one-lakh cusecs flood passes Jurala for 27-28 days a year on an average and it would have been more than sufficient to lift 90 tmc ft water during those flood days itself. Drawal of water from Jurala could have irrigated 10 lakh acres with 3 stages of lifting against 5 with Srisailam as the source.
Further, he explained that diversion of water from Srisailam by Andhra Pradesh was much higher at 1,190.6 tmc ft during the 10-year rule of BRS against 730.6 tmc ft during 10 years prior to formation of Telangana. The water drawal capacity of AP from Srisaialm had increased from 4.47 tmc ft a day till 2014 and it had gone up to 13.17 tmc ft during 2014-23. Similarly, utilisation of Krishna water by Telangana was highest (286.3 tmc ft) in 2024-25 since formation of Telangana in 2014-15.
A spend of ₹7,469 crore on the ongoing projects such as Kalwakurthy, Bhima, Nettempadu and Koilsagar by the previous government would have created an additional irrigation potential of 8.65 lakh acres, but not so, Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy said. Blaming the previous government for mortgaging the State’s interests by agreeing to 299 tmc ft in Krishna waters till completion of the adjudication of shares of AP and Telangana by the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, he said the Congress Government was arguing for a share of 763 tmc ft out of 1,050 tmc ft allocated to combined AP.
Published – January 03, 2026 07:09 pm IST
