Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy addressing a press conference along with Ministers Komatireddy Venkatreddy and Ponnam Prabhakar in Hyderabad on Thursday.
Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy hit back at the BRS leaders by revealing statistics stating that Telangana’s interests were compromised by BRS chief and former CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao as he turned a blind eye towards illegal water drawing by Andhra Pradesh.
Despite the criminal negligence of the BRS government in the last 10 years, the BRS is now trying to defame the Congress government, he said, addressing a press conference along with Ministers Komatireddy Venkatreddy and Ponnam Prabhakar.
The Minister said that the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) data shows that from 2014-15 to 2020-21, Andhra Pradesh consistently utilised over 64% of Krishna River water while Telangana’s share remained below 36%. In 2014-15, A.P. used 529.33 TMC while Telangana got only 227.74 TMC (30.08%).
By 2020-21, A.P. had further increased its usage to 629.07 TMC, leaving Telangana with just 248.23 TMC. “The BRS government failed to take strong legal or political action, allowing Andhra Pradesh to continue its excess withdrawals,” he charged.
Mr. Reddy said that since 2014, Andhra Pradesh aggressively expanded its water withdrawal capacity from Srisailam, increasing the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator’s capacity from 44,000 cusecs in 2005 to 92,600 cusecs in 2023.
He accused the BRS government of enabling Andhra Pradesh to float tenders for the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS) by postponing the Apex Council meeting. “The RLIS project was approved just days after a secret agreement between KCR and the then A.P. CM Jagan Mohan Reddy,” he alleged. “Despite these blatant violations, the then BRS government remained passive. They did not immediately approach the Supreme Court or KWDT-II to contest AP’s illegal water drawal.’”
The Congress government is now contesting the unfair Krishna river water allocation of 299 TMC to Telangana and 512 TMC to Andhra Pradesh. Reading from minutes of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) meetings, Mr. Reddy claimed the BRS government agreed to hand over key projects to KRMB, even allocating ₹200 crore for maintenance in the 2023-24 budget.
“Unlike BRS, our government will never hand over our projects to KRMB,” he asserted.
Mr. Reddy said to monitor AP’s water withdrawals, the Congress government has requested the Centre to install telemetry instruments at 35 locations in Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam dams.
“Even if the Centre refuses to fund it, Telangana will install the instruments at its own cost,” he declared.
Published – February 20, 2025 11:49 pm IST
