HYDERABAD: Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday said that Telangana officials firmly opposed Andhra Pradesh’s proposed Polavaram–Nallamalasagar project at the first meeting of the Jal Shakti Committee held in New Delhi.
Addressing a virtual press conference from his Huzurnagar Assembly segment, the minister dismissed the BRS allegations against the Congress as “baseless propaganda and a repetition of lies,” and accused the previous BRS government of betraying Telangana’s farmers.
Uttam said the Nallamalasagar project was aimed at diverting nearly 200 tmcft of Godavari water annually to Krishna basin areas, including Rayalaseema. He recalled that the Telangana government had secured written assurances from Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil and the Central Water Commission (CWC) that no approvals had been granted to the project.
“In today’s meeting, our officials categorically opposed the AP’s proposal and obtained confirmation from the CWC that no permissions exist for the project,” he said.
Rejecting BRS claims that the Congress government had compromised Telangana’s rights, he said that it was the previous regime that had accepted an unjust share. He pointed out that the BRS government had agreed to a skewed allocation of 299 tmcft in the 66:34 division of 811 tmcft of Krishna waters post-bifurcation, calling it a “shameful legacy” finalised in Jal Shakti Ministry meetings with the direct involvement of then minister T Harish Rao.
He also accused the BRS government of squandering nearly `1.8 lakh crore on incomplete irrigation projects, including the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme. He said the Medigadda barrage under the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project -- conceived, constructed and inaugurated entirely during BRS rule -- had been termed the “worst man-made disaster in the country” in the National Dam Safety Authority’s 2025 report.
Despite pumping about 160 tmcft of water over five years, he said evaporation losses and backflows left only 60–70 tmcft for actual use, resulting in no verifiable new irrigated area and exposing the hollowness of claims of nine lakh acres of additional irrigation under the BRS regime.
The minister asserted that the Congress government would not yield “even a single drop” of Telangana’s rightful share and was aggressively pursuing the state’s entitlements through tribunals, courts and official negotiations to reclaim what was lost.
He said the government was demanding nearly 70 per cent of Krishna waters, citing Telangana’s 68 per cent catchment area, and was forcefully advancing its case before the KRMB, the Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court.