Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA T Harish Rao on Wednesday, June 24, wrote to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, accusing the Telangana government of failing to protect the state’s water rights in the Tungabhadra river and demanding immediate action against what he called illegal projects being built by Karnataka upstream.
In a sharply worded letter, the Siddipet MLA alleged that Karnataka was constructing three bridge-cum-barrages on the Tungabhadra – at Kuridi (2 TMC), Chikkalaparvai (2.5 TMC) and Chikkalamachi (5 TMC) – without obtaining mandatory approvals from the Central Water Commission (CWC), the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), or the consent of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Harish Rao warned that if these structures, particularly the Kuridi Lift Irrigation Scheme being built at a cost of Rs 85 crore in Karnataka’s Raichur district, were completed, water flows to the Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS), a key irrigation project serving farmers in Telangana, would be severely affected, jeopardising the interests of Palamooru farmers.
“The intake structures of this project are already 60 per cent complete. Are you and your government asleep?” he asked, demanding to know why not even a single letter of protest had been sent to Karnataka.
The BRS leader questioned the circumstances surrounding Karnataka’s decision to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) for the Kodangal Lift Irrigation Scheme on July 18, 2025, asking whether Telangana’s water rights had been used as a bargaining chip to secure the NOC.
“By not objecting to Karnataka’s illegal constructions for over a year, your government has indirectly permitted them. Who gave you the authority to mortgage Telangana’s water rights to Karnataka?” he asked.
Harish Rao alleged that while the BRS government had worked to bring Krishna and Godavari waters to Telangana’s fields and revive drought-hit districts like Palamooru, the Congress government had abandoned the state’s water interests.
He also accused the Revanth Reddy government of fully cooperating with Andhra Pradesh’s attempts to divert Godavari waters, and said the same “treacherous attitude” was now on display in the Tungabhadra issue.
He demanded that the Chief Minister immediately intervene to halt Karnataka’s projects and protect the benefits of the RDS, Tummilla and Bhima irrigation schemes.
This post was last modified on June 24, 2026 5:55 pm