Telangana urges Karnataka CM Shivakumar to release Krishna water to save crops

Telangana Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao and several ruling Congress MLAs have urged Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar to release Krishna River water from the State’s reservoirs to save crops in downstream Telangana.

The delegation met Shivakumar in Bengaluru on Tuesday evening and told him that the crops in the command area of Jurala, Nettempadu, Bhima and Koilsagar projects in Telangana were at a crucial stage and needed water for further growth.

The delegation said that crops are cultivated in about 5.5 lakh acres under the four irrigation projects and requested Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs of water for a month to save the crops, an official release said late on Tuesday.

It said Shivakumar responded positively to their request. The Telangana Government’s request came amid protests by farmers in the command area of the Jurala project in Jogulamba Gadwal district of Telangana, neighbouring Karnataka, for release of water to save their crops. While BRS held protests on September 21 on the issue, state BJP president N Ramchander Rao was stopped on September 22 while on his way to meet the farmers in Jogulamba Gadwal district.

Noting that the capacity of the Jurala project is over nine TMC, Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao has earlier said about three TMC of water is in silt, while another three TMC is meant for meeting drinking water needs till the end of June, 2027. Responding to BRS criticism, the minister sought to know why the previous BRS Government did not build reservoirs for additional water storage.