TRS chief Kalvakuntla Kavitha has called for linking the Godavari and Krishna rivers as a long-term response to Nalgonda’s water scarcity and fluoride problems, while opposing the Telangana government’s proposal to bring water to Dindi from Yedula.
Kavitha made the remarks during a presentation at Dindi Reservoir in Nalgonda district. She alleged that successive governments had failed to complete key irrigation projects and said the state needed to pursue a broader water-transfer strategy for the district.
According to the Times of India report, Kavitha argued that the proposed Yedula-Dindi diversion would be technically difficult and impractical. She questioned how additional water could be diverted to Dindi when the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme was already struggling to secure adequate water from the Krishna basin.
She also alleged that design changes at the Yellur pump house, including the conversion of the structure from an open-cut facility to an underground facility, had affected the Palamuru-Rangareddy project. Kavitha said available water levels and existing infrastructure constraints made the proposed diversion to Dindi unviable.
As an alternative, she proposed using Godavari water through the partially completed Baswapur Reservoir under the Kaleshwaram project. Kavitha said completing Baswapur and related infrastructure could enable water to reach Dindi and nearby areas more efficiently. The report does not provide a government response to her technical objections or confirm any change in the state’s proposed diversion plan.
The statement places Nalgonda’s water challenge within a wider dispute over basin availability, unfinished irrigation infrastructure and the choice of projects used to move water between regions. It also connects drinking-water concerns with agricultural supply, as Kavitha criticised the government over drought-like conditions, fertiliser availability and rising farm input costs.
In a significant political admission, Kavitha said mistakes had been made in the irrigation sector during the previous BRS regime and that she was willing to accept responsibility for her participation in that government. She nevertheless accused the present government of failing to advance key projects during the past three years.
Kavitha also demanded compensation of ₹25,000 per acre for farmers affected by drought-like conditions. The next steps for the Dindi diversion proposal, the completion of Baswapur Reservoir and any formal government response to her claims were not specified in the report.
