Karnataka to release 4 TMC ft of water to TG

Telangana ministers Jupally Krishna Rao and Duddilla Sridhar Babu urged Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar to release five TMCs of water from the Narayanapur Reservoir to meet the irrigation and drinking water needs of erstwhile Mahbubnagar district.
Accompanied by MLAs Bandla Krishnamohan Reddy, Vakiti Srihari, Gavinolla Madhusudan Reddy and AICC Secretary Sampath Kumar, the ministers met Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru and later held discussions with Shivakumar on the pressing water crisis in Telangana.
Responding positively, Shivakumar said that four TMCs of water would be released soon providing relief to the region.
Explaining the severity of the situation, the delegation said that the Priyadarshini Jurala Project, a crucial water source for the region, was facing rapid depletion.
With water levels dropping to 1.7 TMC feet as of February 4, officials warned that it could soon reach dead storage, severely affecting drinking water supply and irrigation. Farmers and residents in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district are already experiencing acute distress, with lakhs of acres of farmland at risk.
The ministers said that Jurala is the primary water source for the Jawahar Nettempadu Lift Irrigation Scheme and Bheema Project, which cater to 2.5 lakh acres. Rising temperatures and dwindling reserves have made it imperative to provide at least two more times of irrigation for standing crops.
Over 30 lakh people in the districts of Gadwal, Wanaparthy, Kollapur, Devarakadra and Makthal rely on this water for drinking. Without immediate intervention, the crisis could escalate into a humanitarian emergency, they warned.
Seeking an immediate response, the ministers had requested the Karnataka Government to release five TMCs of water from Narayanapur.