Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has appealed to Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil to allocate a fair share of Krishna River water to Telangana. He requested the Minister to facilitate allocation of 70 per cent of the Krishna River water to the State, contending that 70 per cent of the river’s basin was in the State, while only 30 per cent was in Andhra Pradesh.
“We request you to decide on Andhra Pradesh projects only after the finalisation of Telangana’s share in the river Godavari,” he said.
The Chief Minister, along with the State’s Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, met with the Union Minister in New Delhi on Monday and asked him to protect the State’s interests in sharing Krishna and Godavari river water.
He brought to the attention of the Union Minister about the Krishna River Management Board’s ‘unilateral decision’ of allocating 66 per cent of water to Andhra Pradesh and 34 per cent to Telangana even though most of the Krishna river’s catchment area was covered in Telangana, a Chief Minister’s Office statement said.
Stating that Telangana faced injustice for years, he alleged that Andhra Pradesh was drawing more water than it was allocated and asked the Union Minister to make the neigbhouring State adhere to its allocated water limits in the future.
Revanth Reddy also asked the Union Minister to provide adequate financial assistance for Palamuru-Ranga Reddy, Sitarama Lift Irrigation Scheme, and Chinna Kaleshwaram (Mukteshwar) Lift Irrigation schemes.