Hyderabad: Chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday sought the release of 5 TMC of water from Karnataka ’s Narayanpur reservoir to Jurala project in Telangana to address the irrigation crisis in the combined Mahbubnagar district, where standing crops are facing drought-like conditions due to El Nino impact.
They requested that five TMC of water be released in phases rather than in one go, sources said. “The BRS, which came to know that water is likely to be released from Karnataka to Jurala project, held a protest at the project site by instigating farmers to claim credit later that water was released after pressure from them.
Shivakumar responded positively to the request, sources said. The BRS raised the issue to divert the attention of the people from Congress leaders’ visit to the farmhouses of the BRS top leaders,” said Vakiti Srihari. Jupally criticised the BRS for allegedly misleading farmers and said decisions on water availability should be based on facts and scientific assessment. He said evaporation, storage levels, inflows and outflows, rainfall and the status of projects in Karnataka needed to be considered. He said the govt was assessing water availability, drinking water requirements, rainfall patterns, inflows from Karnataka and the impact of El Niño. He said releasing all available water at once could create drinking water problems in the coming months, adding the govt was working with Karnataka authorities to improve inflows into Jurala and supply water to farmers in phases.
Revanth spoke to Karnataka chief minister DK Shivakumar over the phone and explained the prevailing situation in the district. He appealed to Shivakumar to release five TMC of water to Jurala in the interests of farmers. The CM also sent a team of ministers and MLAs from Mahbubnagar to meet the Karnataka CM and submit a memorandum and also thank him for responding positively to his request over phone. Before going to Bengaluru, they had met Revanth and irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy at the secretariat in the afternoon. Srihari also accused BRS leaders of politicising the issue and creating anxiety among farmers.
The team of tourism and excise minister Jupally Krishna Rao, youth services and sports minister Vakiti Srihari, and MLAs Bandla Krishna Mohan Reddy, T Megha Reddy and G Madhusudan Reddy met the CM in Bengaluru on Tuesday night. Later, Jupally and Vakiti Srihari, along with the MLAs, addressed a media conference and said the Telangana govt had written to the Karnataka CM on Sunday itself seeking the release of water.