With Telangana facing drought-like conditions due to lack of monsoon rainfall linked to the El Niño phenomenon, the political battle has intensified between the ruling Congress Party and the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi Party over whether to commission the Kannipalli Pumping Station of the Kaleshwaram Irrigation Project to lift Godavari water for irrigation purposes in the state’s parched northern districts.
According to official figures, Telangana recorded a cumulative monsoon rainfall deficit of 31% to 35%, with 30 of its 33 districts reporting deficient or largely lacking rainfall from June 1 to July 20.
Meanwhile, heavy rains in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh caused flood flows of up to 1 lakh cusecs in the Medigada barrage across the Pranahita river.
An irrigation department official said the water level in the Madi Qadda dam had reached about 96 meters by Monday, prompting authorities to raise all 85 gates to release floodwaters coming downstream.
In the last few days, BRS leaders have intensified their attacks on the Congress government, asking it to operate the Kannipalli pumping station at Medigadda barrage to lift Godavari water to the barrage and then to the Annaram and Sundila irrigation barrages.
Prime Minister A. said: Revanth Reddy, during a PowerPoint presentation on the project on July 11, said commissioning the Kannibali Pumping Station was not advisable in view of the directives issued by the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA). He said the Madigadah Dam suffered severe damage during the October 2023 floods, and warned that storing water there could risk structural collapse.
Addressing a public meeting in Mancherial on Tuesday, KT Rama Rao, working president of BRS, accused the Congress government of deliberately neglecting the Kaleshwaram project and allowing Godavari water to flow “excessively” into neighboring Andhra Pradesh while Telangana farmers faced drought-like conditions.
“The government must immediately raise water through Kanibali pumps to protect agriculture,” he demanded.
The BRS confirmed that the Medigada barrage was not necessary for the operation of the Canibali pumping station. According to KTR, the water could be raised when the river level in Kanipali exceeds 93 metres. With the Godavari river currently flowing at a height of about 97 metres, the pumps can be operated without delay, he added.
He claimed that nearly 1 trillion cubic feet of water could be lifted daily, enabling storage of nearly 200 trillion cubic feet over the next 100 days and preventing irrigation and drinking water shortages in large parts of Telangana.
KTR also said that Telangana was losing valuable Godavari water while neighboring Andhra Pradesh continued to make effective use of the Pattisima irrigation system. He wondered why the state failed to restore the Kaleshwaram project despite repeated appeals from farmers, retired engineers and opposition parties.
In a sharp response, Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Kaleshwaram project was entirely conceived, designed, constructed and operated under the BRS government and that the previous regime bears full responsibility for the collapse of the Medigadda Barrage.
He pointed out that the barrage partially collapsed on October 21, 2023, when K Chandrasekhar Rao was the Prime Minister, while the Congress government took office only on December 7 that year.
When questioned by BRS, the Minister asked who designed, built and operated the Medigada bombs. He accused the opposition of trying to hide what he described as a “historic administrative failure” by blaming the Congress government and misleading the public.
The minister said the Medigada, Annaram and Sundela bombs have been declared structurally unsafe by the NDSA. He warned that filling the barrages or operating the Kanibali pumps under the current conditions could lead to further damage to buildings and put downstream villages at risk.
“The BRS government has created a man-made disaster through faulty planning, poor construction and negligence. We will not repeat the same mistake by storing water in unsafe taps just for political gain,” he said.
He added that since safe storage is not currently possible at Anaram and Sundela, operating the pumps is not technically possible.
The minister said that comprehensive scientific investigations covering soil and foundation conditions, concrete quality and structural integrity are nearing completion.
According to him, the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS) and the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) have completed most of the investigations, and the results have been sent to IIT Bombay to prepare detailed rehabilitation designs.
Initial assessments suggest that building a retaining wall across the arches could form part of the restoration strategy, although the final repair methodology will depend entirely on expert recommendations.
He said that the Union government had formed a technical monitoring committee to scrutinize the rehabilitation proposals and that the restoration work would begin only after obtaining approvals from the committee, NDSA and the Central Water Commission (CWC).
Asserting that public safety would remain paramount, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Medigada, Annaram and Sundila barrages will not be commissioned until all statutory agencies certify them as structurally safe.
