Irrigation Minister, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has said that the BRS leaders, who have ignored the fight to increase the share of Krishna waters in Telangan for 10 years, are now preaching ethics.
He said it was the Congress government that convinced the need for increased share for Telangana, and the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT-II) agreed to review it due to strong legal push by the government. The Congress party had been fighting since the beginning to increase the share based on the catchment area and ayacut in Telangana.
He said the BRS, which was in power in the State for the 10 years, failed miserably in securing river water shares. In fact, the then Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao signed an agreement pledging the State’s interests to Andhra Pradesh by agreeing to settle for 299 tmcft for Telangana and 512 tmcft for Andhra Pradesh out of the 811 tmcft. “Telangana was subjected to immense injustice with this shady agreement made by the BRS government. Didn’t BRS leaders sign these temporary allocations every year?” he asked.
He said the Centre had repeatedly extended the deadline of the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, which was formed to distribute the waters allocated to the joint state to the two States. “Why was there no pressure in the last 10 years to make these allocations within a specific time frame?,” he asked. “After we came to power, we increased the pressure on the Union government to quickly allocate water.”
Published – January 18, 2025 04:30 am IST
