HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has raised strong objections against the Andhra Pradesh government’s reported plans to construct a new Lift Irrigation Scheme (LIS) drawing water from the dead storage of the Polavaram Irrigation Project.
The Telangana government has called on the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) to take immediate action as mandated under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act (APRA), 2014.
On Saturday, Engineer-in-Chief (General) G Anil Kumar wrote a letter — a copy of which was accessed by TNIE — addressed to the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) and the GRMB to prevent the proposal from moving forward.
This objection comes in the wake of a news report published in a vernacular daily on May 21, which stated that the Andhra Pradesh government plans to lift water from a 35-metre level in the dead storage of the Polavaram reservoir during the current financial year. The report cited G.O. RT No. 134, issued on April 19, 2021, as the basis for the plan.
The Telangana government argued that such a move is unauthorised and violates the approval conditions of the Central Water Commission (CWC) as per the 95th Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting held in 2009. It also pointed out that drawing water from dead storage would impact the Godavari Delta System (GDS) requirements and is inconsistent with the established guidelines.
It had earlier flagged similar concerns in official communications sent in November 2021 and May 2022. During an interstate meeting on April 8, 2025, chaired by the CEO of the PPA, Andhra Pradesh officials reportedly informed that work on the proposed scheme had been halted. However, the recent media report indicates that the plan is being revived.
Telangana officials also criticised what they described as a contradictory stance by Andhra Pradesh — proceeding with new water extraction initiatives while simultaneously objecting to Telangana’s irrigation projects on the grounds of insufficient water availability. The Telangana government requested that Andhra Pradesh be restrained from pursuing the project in any form and that necessary regulatory measures be enforced without further delay.