Switch on the pumps — or say why

BRS MLA T. Harish Rao has written to Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy asking the state to immediately switch on Kaleshwaram motors, lift from Mid Manair and fill Annapurna, Ranganayaka Sagar, Mallanna Sagar, Kondapochamma Sagar and Baswapur — and transfer water from Mid Manair to Lower Manair Dam for the SRSP Stage-II command. According to the report on his letter, he says delayed reservoir filling has hit cultivation and that around four lakh acres need water, citing Lower Manair’s 24 TMC capacity and a current 6.9 TMC. These acreage and storage numbers are Harish Rao’s claims in the letter; the department has not published a matching bulletin in the material we have.

The hydraulics he invokes are not exotic. The Irrigation Department’s own Kaleshwaram documents describe lifting Godavari water up to Sripada Yellampally and on to Mid Manair, with downstream distribution through the linked reservoirs. The question is not whether the project connects; it is whether the Congress-run government is willing to run the pumps now — and if not, on what technical basis.

This is not the first time the ask has landed on Uttam’s desk. In August 2025, Harish Rao made an almost identical request, listing the same reservoirs and tying relief to Kaleshwaram’s Package-6 lifts. A year later, the same chain, the same minister, the same decision. The Congress government has not bothered to explain why farmers should wait again, or why the motors should stay off if the network is ready to move water.

If there is a safety, power, or maintenance constraint, the department can publish it — with dates. If there isn’t, turn the switches and fill the reservoirs before the season closes. The BJP will not do this for Telangana, and the TDP has other priorities; the Congress government in Hyderabad is the one with the control room key and the excuses.