Telangana Govt Silent as AP Diverts Krishna Water, Alleges Srinivas Goud

Former Telangana minister V. Srinivas Goud on Friday accused the Congress government of failing to protect the state's share of Krishna river water and alleged that Andhra Pradesh was diverting water while irrigation pumps in Telangana were not being operated to their full capacity.

Srinivas Goud, along with former ministers S. Niranjan Reddy and C. Laxma Reddy and former MLAs Marri Janardhan Reddy and Harshavardhan Reddy, inspected the Stage-3 pump house of the Mahatma Gandhi Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) at Gudipalli reservoir in Nagarkurnool district.

Goud said the visit was aimed at drawing the government's attention to the issue, alleging that Telangana's irrigation infrastructure was ready to deliver water but the required pumping operations were not being carried out.

He claimed that several reservoirs in the Palamuru region had been completed but were not being filled adequately. According to him, around 90 per cent of the project works have been completed, and finishing the remaining works could help provide irrigation water to farmers. He also alleged that tenders had been cancelled without taking the pending works forward.

Goud further claimed that while around 37 TMC of water was officially reported to have been released to Andhra Pradesh from Srisailam, the actual diversion could be as high as 70 TMC. In contrast, he alleged, Telangana had received less than 7 TMC.

He accused Andhra Pradesh of diverting Krishna basin water towards the Pennar basin through projects and routes including Muchchumarri and Pothireddypadu. He also alleged that only one or two pumps were being operated instead of five at locations including Yellur, Jonnalabogada and Gudipalli, with pumping operations not being carried out at night.

Goud claimed that 50 TMC of water meant for Telangana had been diverted to Andhra Pradesh through Muchchumarri and Pothireddypadu, while alleging that another 8,000 cusecs of water was being diverted through the Veligonda project.

He criticised the government for what he described as inaction on the issue and said farmers were already facing shortages of urea, electricity and irrigation water. He also claimed that a second pump was switched on when BRS leaders were visiting Gudipalli.

Goud warned that the BRS would intensify its agitation under K. Chandrasekhar Rao's leadership if crops were affected due to inadequate irrigation.