Former minister T Harish Rao has accused the Congress government in Telangana of compromising the state's water rights by linking the proposed Godavari–Nallamala Sagar project with the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme. He demanded that the state government oppose the Polavaram-Cauvery River linking proposal, convene an all-party meeting, organise protests in Delhi, and pass a resolution in the state assembly to protect Telangana's water rights.
Harish Rao warned that if the government failed to act, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) would launch a statewide people's movement to safeguard Telangana's interests. He said any attempt to link the two projects amounts to surrendering Telangana's legally entitled water rights and betraying the interests of the state. He alleged that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was acting in the interests of his political mentor rather than safeguarding Telangana's interests. The BRS leader emphasised that his party has always prioritised the state's interests over political gains and would continue to lead the fight to protect Telangana's water rights.
Harish Rao recalled that Telangana had suffered injustice in Krishna water allocations during the undivided Andhra Pradesh era and alleged that a similar injustice was now being repeated in the case of Godavari waters. He said BRS strongly opposed the Banakacherla project from the beginning and fought to protect Telangana's rightful share under the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal award. He added that BRS repeatedly warned that Telangana was entitled to 45 TMC of water if Godavari waters were diverted to the Krishna basin.
“After facing strong opposition from BRS, the AP government changed the project’s name from Banakacherla to Nallamala Sagar and attempted to divert Godavari waters without formally linking them to the Krishna basin. BRS consistently argued that there were no surplus waters available in the Godavari and opposed the project itself. As the Banakacherla and Nallamala Sagar proposals failed to gain acceptance, a new attempt was being made under the Godavari-Cauvery River Linking Project,” the former irrigation minister said.
The BRS leader recalled that Telangana had participated in several meetings of the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) and consistently maintained three conditions: that Telangana’s pending projects based on its allocated 968 TMC of Godavari water must receive all statutory clearances first; that Telangana must receive 50 percent of the water diverted through any river-linking project; and that any river-linking proposal should pass through Telangana territory, particularly through Ichampalli or Sammakka Sagar to Nagarjuna Sagar. He noted that the present proposal bypasses Telangana entirely by seeking to transfer water from Polavaram towards Nallamala Sagar and further south, depriving Telangana of any benefit.
Harish Rao said the original concept envisioned water flowing from Ichampalli or Sammakka Sagar to Nagarjuna Sagar and then onwards towards the Cauvery basin. Instead, Andhra Pradesh was now attempting to divert Godavari waters without involving Telangana. He argued that under the present proposal, Andhra Pradesh would receive the benefits of a national project while Telangana would lose substantial future water allocations.
Harish Rao criticised Revanth Reddy’s reported suggestion that Telangana would support approvals for the Banakacherla project if clearance was given to the Palamuru-Rangareddy project. He said such a position would damage both Telangana’s Godavari interests and the future of the Palamuru project. He pointed out that the 90 TMC allocated to the Palamuru-Rangareddy project already belongs to Telangana and does not require any concession to Andhra Pradesh.
The BRS leader stated that Telangana currently has approvals and clearances relating to 968 TMC of Godavari water, including technical advisory clearances for 828 TMC, while approvals for another 139 TMC remain pending. He alleged that due to the Congress government’s failure, approvals remain pending for: Sammakka Sagar – 47 TMC, Wardha Project – 20 TMC, Yellampalli Expansion – 40 TMC, Adilabad Minor Irrigation Projects – 9 TMC, and Lower Penganga Project – 5 TMC.
Harish Rao questioned whether these pending approvals would ever be granted if the Polavaram-Cauvery link moved ahead first. He estimated that Telangana could potentially lose access to over 200 TMC of future water benefits because of the current approach. The BRS leader said several meetings had already been held between Andhra Pradesh, central government officials, and Telangana representatives regarding the project and demanded that all meeting minutes be made public. “Routing the river-linking project through Telangana would be technically more viable and cost-effective. The Telangana route will require lower lifting heights and significantly lower project expenditure compared to the Polavaram-Banakacherla route,” he said.
The former minister questioned why the central government was ignoring Telangana’s interests and accused both the Congress government in the state and the BJP government at the Centre of failing to protect Telangana’s rights. Harish Rao also expressed concern over Karnataka being allowed to utilise additional Krishna waters, warning that it would adversely affect projects such as Jurala and further impact irrigation in Palamuru. “Telangana was already using only around 25 percent of Krishna waters while Andhra Pradesh was utilising nearly 75 percent,” he alleged, adding that both the Krishna River Management Board and the Central Water Commission were failing to safeguard Telangana’s interests.
