Karnataka seeks 3.5 tmcft of water from Telangana

This is to mitigate acute scarcity in Tungabhadra catchment area

Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation M.B. Patil led a high-level delegation and met Telangana Minister for Irrigation T. Harish Rao in Hyderabad on Thursday and requested to allow the State to utilise 3.5 tmcft of water with respect to Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme to mitigate the acute scarcity of water owing to scanty rainfall in the Tungabhadra catchment area in Karnataka.

After the meeting, Mr. Patil told presspersons, “We highlighted the distressed condition prevailing in the Tungabhadra basin in Karnataka urged the Telangana government to allow the State to use 3.5 tmcft of water

‘Positive response’

The Telangana government positively responded to the State’s demand, Mr. Patil said.

According to a press release issued here, Mr. Patil said, “The State released 1 tmcft of water from the Narayanapur reservoir to cater to the drinking water needs of Mahabubnagar district of Telangana in 2016–17 and in 2017–18 on humanitarian grounds. We brought this to the notice of Mr. Rao.”

He said, “We agreed to provide full support to the modernisation works of the Rajolibanda diversion scheme and assured them to expedite the works to complete them by July 2018.”