Hyderabad: Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy accused former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of committing two “historic blunders” that weakened Telangana’s river water rights during the BRS regime.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Saturday, Uttam Kumar Reddy said policy decisions taken under the previous government reduced the State’s ability to utilise its rightful share of Krishna and Godavari waters. He made the remarks during a PowerPoint presentation on irrigation projects and river water disputes.
The minister alleged that the BRS government altered intake points of major irrigation projects to erase the imprint of the earlier Congress administration. He said this move ignored technical logic and long-term water security.
According to Uttam Kumar Reddy, the Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme intake was shifted from Jurala to Srisailam. Similarly, he said the Pranahita–Chevella project intake was moved from Thummidihatti to Medigadda. He argued that both changes harmed Telangana’s irrigation interests.
He said the altered designs failed to deliver benefits despite heavy expenditure. As a result, he added, Telangana remained water-starved even after large investments in irrigation infrastructure.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said the BRS government spent over ₹1.83 lakh crore on irrigation projects. However, he said these investments did not translate into assured irrigation for farmers. He also criticised the borrowing strategy adopted by the previous government.
The minister said the State raised loans at interest rates ranging between 11 and 11.5 per cent. This pushed Telangana close to a financial crisis, he said. Later, he added, the present Congress government converted these borrowings into low-interest loans.
River water rights hit by project shifts and disputes
Calling the Palamuru Rangareddy project a symbol of the “betrayal of Palamuru,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said the scheme would have delivered more benefits at a lower cost if the intake had remained at Jurala. Instead, he said project costs escalated sharply.
He said project estimates rose from ₹32,000 crore to ₹55,000 crore by 2022. On completion, he added, costs could reach ₹80,000–84,000 crore.
Rejecting BRS claims of 90 per cent completion, the minister said not a single acre had received irrigation water so far. He also said land acquisition for more than 39,000 acres was still pending.
On the Pranahita–Chevella project, later merged into the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, Uttam Kumar Reddy said shifting the intake to Medigadda led to serious structural failures. He said three barrages remained under repair and irrigation benefits had yet to reach farmers.
Turning to the Krishna river dispute, the minister accused the BRS government of surrendering Telangana’s interests. He said Telangana accepted 299 TMC, while Andhra Pradesh received 512 TMC in the 2016 Apex Council decision. He added that the allocation was endorsed again in 2020.
He also criticised the previous government for failing to install telemetry systems at key locations. This lapse weakened monitoring and enforcement, he said. Uttam Kumar Reddy added that Telangana now seeks 756 TMC, nearly 70 per cent of the dependable Krishna yield.
Despite these challenges, he said Telangana recorded its highest crop yields and procurement levels over the past two years.
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