Hyderabad: Telangana Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday said the govt is maximising the utilisation of Godavari waters for farmers in north Telangana, with five pumps operating at Sripada Yellampally to lift water to Mid Manair.After inspecting the SRSP, Kaddam and Sripada Yellampally projects along with ministers D Sridhar Babu and G Vivek Venkatswamy, Uttam reviewed inflows, storage and pumping operations, directing hourly monitoring to prevent any wastage.Rejecting claims that the pumped water is from the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), he said the water entering Yellampally is natural Godavari flow and that the project was conceived under the Congress-era Pranahita-Chevella project, not KLIS.The minister said major irrigation projects such as SRSP, Kaddam, Nagarjuna Sagar, Srisailam and the Flood Flow Canal, built during Congress regimes, continue to function reliably, while the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages developed structural issues after their construction under the previous BRS govt.He said the govt is keeping the KLIS barrages under free-flow conditions in line with NDSA and CWC directives, which bar water storage until investigations and repairs are completed. He added that Kannepalli pumps cannot be operated as water would have to be stored first in the structurally compromised Annaram and Sundilla barrages.Accusing the BRS of spreading misinformation, Uttam alleged the previous govt spent ₹1.81 lakh crore on irrigation with little addition to ayacut, claiming even Kaleshwaram failed to provide stable irrigation to one lakh acres, while several other projects remained incomplete.
