Congress Govt lifted more water from Godavari than the BRS government: Govt Whip Aadi Srinivas

Government Whip Aadi Srinivas addressing a press conference at the Congress Legislature Party office on November 7, 2026.

Countering the BRS criticism that Godavari water was released to Andhra Pradesh, Government Whip Aadi Srinivas said the Congress government had lifted more water from the Godavari than the BRS government.

Presenting the figures at a press conference in Hyderabad on Saturday (November 7, 2026), he said the previous BRS government had lifted a total of 86.127 TMC of water through the Devadula project between 2014-15 and 2022-23, averaging 9.57 TMC annually.

In comparison, the Congress government had lifted around 68 TMC in the last three years, he claimed. It lifted 18.067 TMC in 2024-25 and 18.20 TMC in 2025-26, averaging 18.13 TMC annually, which was 89% higher than the average during the previous regime, he said. The government had already lifted 16.71 TMC during the first five months of the current year, he added.

Mr. Srinivas said 8.10 TMC had also been lifted through the Sitarama Sagar project, taking the total water lifted downstream of Kaleshwaram to 24.81 TMC. The water had been used to provide irrigation to lakhs of acres in Warangal, Nalgonda and Khammam districts, he claimed.

Explaining the Devadula project's capacity, he said it has 10 pumping units that could lift 0.23 TMC a day if operated continuously. He said it would take around four and a half days to lift one TMC of water, questioning Mr Harish Rao’s criticism of the quantum of water lifted.

He added that the government was temporarily blocking the flow of water near Dummugudem with sandbags and diverting it to meet drinking water needs. BRS leaders could visit the location and verify the arrangements, he added.

Referring to the condition of the Kaleshwaram project, Mr. Srinivas said the Medigadda barrage had suffered subsidence, while seepage problems had been reported at the Annaram and Sundilla barrages. In such circumstances, the BRS leader’s demand for lifting water at Medigadda was not practical, he said.

He claimed that the Ellampalli project, constructed during the Congress regime, was now proving beneficial to farmers. Had the previous BRS government constructed a barrage at Tummidihatti as originally planned, the present situation could have been avoided, he said.

He asked former Minister T. Harish Rao stop spreading misinformation about crop losses, power supply and irrigation, alleging that he was getting vicarious pleasure of the drought situation in the State.

On the Krishna River water dispute, Mr. Srinivas accused the previous BRS government of agreeing to an interim arrangement that allocated 512 TMC to Andhra Pradesh and 299 TMC to Telangana out of the 811 TMC share of undivided Andhra Pradesh. He said the Revanth Reddy government was now demanding a fair allocation of 558 TMC for Telangana.