Karnataka To Give Additional Krishna Water To Telangana
Karnataka has assured phased release of Krishna water to Jurala in Telangana, with the move aimed at supporting farmers and protecting standing crops.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s efforts to secure Krishna river water from Karnataka’s Narayanpur dam have borne fruit with ministers Jupally Krishna Rao and Vakiti Srihari on Wednesday saying that Karnataka had assured of the water release for Telangana.
Krishna Rao and Srihari said on Wednesday that Karnataka Chief Minister D.K Shivakumar had assured them that the water would be supplied to Jurala for 10 days in an on-and-off basis. Telangana had asked Karnataka to release 13 tmc ft of water in all, but Karnataka is yet to confirm how much water it would release.
The ministers had rushed to Bengaluru on Tuesday evening, met with Shivakumar late in the night and submitted Telangana’s request for urgent release of water to save standing crops in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district. Their visit followed an earlier telephonic conversation between Revanth Reddy and irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Shivakumar.
The ministers said that following their discussions, Shivakumar spoke with Karnataka’s water resources minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy and Chief Secretary Dr. Shalini Rajneesh on Telangana’s request and directed them to take steps for release of water. The ministers said that farmers under the Jurala, Bhima, Nettempadu, and Koilsagar ayacuts need not worry about irrigation to save their standing crops, adding that every drop of water will be used in a planned manner to protect the interests of farmers.
They said they would meet with ministers, MLAs, and irrigation department officials from the areas that fall the projects under the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district to discuss how to utilise the water for irrigation and drinking water needs.
