Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has said Krishna river water will be brought to the drought-prone Kodangal region by December 2028, while urging farmers to conserve water and avoid paddy cultivation until the next monsoon.
Speaking at a farmers’ rally in Lagacharla in his home constituency of Kodangal, Reddy said the government had started work on the Makthal-Narayanpet-Kodangal lift irrigation project. He described the delivery of irrigation water to Kodangal’s dry lands as his responsibility and said the project would help create green crops in the region.
The announcement comes as the Chief Minister linked Telangana’s water concerns to an El Niño-induced drought. He said the state had enough rice stocks to meet requirements for the next 12 months but warned that water availability would remain the main challenge. He appealed to residents to conserve water and asked farmers to avoid paddy cultivation until the arrival of the next monsoon.
Reddy called for a united response to the drought and said he would visit villages across every district under the proposed Praja Balam programme. The programme, he said, would involve direct interaction with farmers and residents to understand their problems and take measures to address them.
The Kodangal announcement places the lift irrigation project at the centre of the region’s water and development agenda. Reddy said people in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district had waited for development and irrigation for decades, despite several leaders from the region holding public office. He also accused the previous BRS government of keeping Palamuru irrigation projects pending for 10 years, an allegation made during the political address.
Reddy further alleged that the previous BRS government had left Telangana with a debt burden of Rs 8.11 lakh crore over 10 years. He said the present government was paying about Rs 80,000 crore annually towards loans and liabilities incurred by the previous administration, and had paid more than Rs 2.45 lakh crore towards them in the past 34 months. These figures and the allegations were presented by the Chief Minister at the rally.
The Chief Minister also said his government had decided to ensure that salaries for 11 lakh government employees were paid on the first day of every month, with the system implemented from January 1, 2024. The statement connects the state’s irrigation commitments with its wider claims about fiscal management and administrative delivery.
Reddy said opposition from BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao to the Makthal-Narayanpet-Kodangal lift irrigation project would not prevent the works from proceeding. He reiterated that Krishna water would reach Kodangal by December 2028. The stated deadline is the next major milestone for the project and its promised impact on irrigation in the region.
