Telangana Shall Adopt ‘4 Waters’ For Better Results: Marri
‘4 Waters’ better bet than big dams: Marri
Hyderabad:Water disputes between states will never be truly resolved and governments seeking long-term solutions for irrigation and drinking water must shift focus to localised models like the '4 Water' concept, former minister and BJP senior leader Dr Marri Shashidhar Reddy said on Saturday.
“Whether it's the Telangana-Andhra Pradesh conflict or those between other states, river-sharing disputes are unlikely to be settled because political interests outweigh public welfare. These are less about serving people and more about safeguarding political stakes,” he said.
Referring to the recent meeting in New Delhi between the Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Shashidhar Reddy said it ended with a vague “agree to disagree.” He added, “Water is a contentious issue, but it can be made available to people using the 4 Waters approach—rainfall, surface water, soil moisture and groundwater—all of which are interlinked. I urge Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to consider this model.”
Citing the proposed Kodangal lift irrigation scheme, he said the plan to irrigate 1 lakh acres at a cost of over Rs 4,300 crore (excluding land acquisition) could be achieved at just Rs 150 crore using the 4 Waters approach. “Large projects are driven by contractor interests, not social justice. They target small landholders and the downtrodden, but depend entirely on water availability. In contrast, the 4 Water system has already enabled three crop cycles in Zaheerabad and can do the same in Kodangal and Narayanpet. The savings can instead be directed to improve education and healthcare,” he explained.
On the proposed Polavaram-Banakacharla link project by Andhra Pradesh, which aims to irrigate 30 lakh acres in Rayalaseema, he said the region already receives enough rainfall to support watershed development. “Why spend Rs 81,000 crore on this when the same result can be achieved for far less? Ironically, it was AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu who first promoted the 4 Water concept under the ‘Neeru-Meeru’ programme. I urge him to revive that instead of backing a project mired in dispute,” he said.
