Telangana: BJP MP Arvind Dharmapuri terms Banakacherla's project meeting

India Gazette

4 hours ago

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], June 19 (ANI): BJP MP Arvind Dharmapuri has criticised the proposed meeting by Telangana Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy on the Banakacherla project.
He further highlighted the absence of communication between the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on the issue.
'Banakacherla project is the Andhra Pradesh govt's proposal. The Centre has not received any major documentation yet. According to me, the Centre will go as per the CWC guidelines and the Godavari River Board. Till now, there is no correspondence between the CMs of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on this. The meeting, called by Uttam Kumar Reddy, is a sheer eyewash. He has no clue about what Telangana wants, how the state will move forward if Telangana needs more water. We have info that Uttam Reddy is operating on KCR's orders,' he said.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha also voiced strong opposition to the Banakacherla project under the proposed Godavari-Cauvery river linking, alleging that it would deprive Telangana of its rightful share of river water and leave several districts in the state parched.
She further criticised Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, claiming that he has failed to effectively intervene and stop the decision being made by the Central government.
Speaking to ANI, K Kavitha said, 'In the proposed river linking project of Godavari-Cauvery, Telangana will lose its water share because now Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu is trying to change the linkage point from Telangana to the Andhra Pradesh region. We are severely objecting to it.'
'Unfortunately, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy is not able to effectively stop this decision being made by the Central government. If the linkage point is shifted to Andhra Pradesh, half of the Telangana districts will be left parched. We will lose rights to the Godavari river water in the future. We severely object to this particular river linkage project, which is under the name Banakacherla,' the BRS MLC stated.
The Godavari-Banakacherla Link Scheme is a massive project proposed by the Andhra Pradesh Government at an estimated cost of Rs 80,112 crore. The plan involves diverting 200 TMC of water from the Godavari River at Polavaram to Rayalaseema through the Bollapalli reservoir and Banakacherla head regulator. The proposal seeks to interlink the Godavari, Krishna, and Penna rivers.
In April, the Telangana government decided to approach the Supreme Court against two major river interlinking projects proposed by the Andhra Pradesh Government - the Godavari-Banakacherla Link Scheme and the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS), state Minister for Irrigation, Food and Civil Supplies, Uttam Kumar Reddy had said. (ANI)