‘Fill Sagar first’ is the demand
BRS hits the gates at AMRP, alleges Congress govt let AP draw Krishna water via Pothireddypadu; wants Nagarjuna Sagar filled, tanks topped, and irrigation supply restored.
Nagarjuna Sagar’s water levels and downstream releases remain at the centre of the demand for irrigation supply.
Content type: news
BRS leaders and farmers staged a two-hour protest on the Kodad–Jadcherla highway near Ganapuram Stage, blocking traffic at the AMRP main-canal distributor gates and demanding one simple order of business: fill Nagarjuna Sagar, top up local tanks, and release irrigation water. They also called for stopping draws through Pothireddypadu until Sagar is full, a line that will not surprise anyone who farms downstream. According to the report of the protest, police persuaded the crowd to disperse after the blockade.
At the site, former MLA and BRS leader Ramavath Ravindra Kumar alleged that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has neglected the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project to please Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, and claimed around 25,000 cusecs were being drawn at Pothireddypadu, keeping water from reaching Sagar. Those are his allegations; the protest report does not cite a KRMB bulletin, reservoir log or discharge reading to establish the figure or the decision behind it.
What is on record: the state itself says Kaleshwaram’s damaged Medigadda barrage is under restoration review, with geophysical and geotechnical testing under way and work to follow National Dam Safety Authority guidance. Separately, the Irrigation Department has recently operated parts of the system — pumping from Sripada Yellampalli and at Rampur to move water toward Jagtial and Nizamabad — even as officials in Siddipet told farmers this month that four local reservoirs would be kept for drinking water, not irrigation.
Also on the record: Revanth Reddy has publicly said there will be “no compromise whatsoever” on Telangana’s Krishna and Godavari rights, and earlier directed officials to flag Andhra Pradesh withdrawals from Nagarjuna Sagar to the KRMB. Pothireddypadu falls squarely within the KRMB’s notified jurisdiction. What the Congress government in Telangana has not put out, yet, is the present discharge at Pothireddypadu on August 21, the current Sagar inflow/outflow, and the operating basis for any draw that might be happening — the straightforward numbers that would settle a farmer’s question faster than a press line.
The BJP in Delhi will say “let the boards decide”, the TDP in Andhra will wave “drinking water” till the meter stops, and the Congress in Hyderabad will talk restoration. Telangana’s fields run on flows, not talking points. The KRMB log and a Sagar level bulletin would do nicely.