Uttam says Almatti dam height will be opposed

Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the government would present its case on Karnataka’s proposal to increase the height of Almatti Dam.

The Minister said in Palakeedu mandal of Suryapet district on Sunday that the Supreme Court was dealing with the case presently and he would travel to Delhi on Monday (September 22) to present Telangana’s case. “State’s share in Krishna and Godavari waters would not be compromised at any cost,” he said.

Mr. Reddy said the Almatti case had been pending in the Supreme Court since 2017. He assured that Telangana’s legal team, including senior advocates, would present strong arguments to block the dam height increase.

He accused the BRS government of conceding unfair allocation of Krishna water when out of the 811 TMC of Krishna river water, 512 TMC was allocated to Andhra Pradesh and only 299 TMC to Telangana. The Congress government is contesting this allocation before the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal.

Telangana was already suffering due to the ‘collapsed’ Kaleshwaram project, which was flawed in planning, execution and maintenance. Legal action would be taken against anyone found responsible irrespective of their position.

Earlier, the Minister reviewed the progress of the Jawahar Janpahad Lift Irrigation Scheme, which is scheduled for completion by 31 December and is expected to provide irrigation to 10,000 acres. He also inspected the works of the Mahatma Gandhi Muktyala Branch Canal, which will irrigate 53,000 acres at the tail-end of the Nagarjuna Sagar Left Canal, and the Rajiv Gandhi Lift Irrigation Scheme at Dondapadu, which will utilise surplus Pulichintala project water to irrigate 14,000 acres.