BRS working president KT Rama Rao has called for the restoration and agricultural use of Godavari River water in Telangana, saying the move would be a fitting tribute to poet Mallavajhala Sadasivudu and could help protect standing crops. He also accused the Congress government of failing to use available river water and of neglecting key irrigation projects.
Rama Rao made the remarks at a memorial awards function organised by Telangana Vikas Samithi. He linked Sadasivudu’s song “Thalapuna Paaruthundi Godavari” to the Telangana statehood movement, saying poetry and public cultural expression had helped sustain support for the struggle over water rights and statehood.
According to figures cited by Rama Rao, 750 TMCft of water had flowed into the Godavari and 258 TMCft into the Krishna during the first seven-and-a-half months of the monsoon season. He said nearly 1,000 TMCft had flowed into the sea while farmers continued to face irrigation difficulties.
Rama Rao said the Bharat Rashtra Samithi had repeatedly appealed to the government to lift the available water and save standing crops. He alleged that the government’s inaction had left fields parched despite abundant flows in the two river systems. The report did not include a response from the Congress government to these allegations.
He also alleged that the Kaleshwaram and Palamuru-Rangareddy irrigation projects were being neglected because of political differences with BRS chief and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. The claims were made in the context of the wider dispute over the operation and use of Telangana’s irrigation infrastructure, but the report did not provide project-wise water-lifting figures or details of any current government operating plan.
The figures cited at the event place the focus on the gap between river inflows and water delivered to farms. River flows alone do not establish how much water can be stored, lifted or distributed, since those outcomes depend on project capacity, reservoir levels, pumping systems, canals and operational decisions. The available report, however, does not provide those details or independently verify the stated volumes.
The event also featured the presentation of the Mallavajhala Sadasivudu Memorial Awards for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Cheman Singh and Sangishetty Srinivas received the two memorial awards, while Tirunagari Devakidevi and Kavvampalli Swamy were honoured for their contributions to literature and culture. Rama Rao’s call for restoring Godavari water therefore combined a tribute to the poet with a renewed political demand for action on irrigation projects.
