English 
Hon’ble Chief Minister Sri K. Chandrashekar Rao ordered the officials concerned to initiate measures on a war footing to stockpile water in the reservoirs by lifting from the projects on rivers Krishna and Godavari, including Kaleshwaram, to prevent drought conditions in Telangana state.
Due to deficit rainfall, the country is already witnessing a dry spell. CM KCR on Sunday held a high-level meeting with officials at BR Ambedkar State Secretariat on rainfall, availability of water in the rivers like Pranahita, water storage in the state’s reservoirs, electricity demand etc. The CM wanted the officials to take action to prevent the shortage of drinking water and irrigation needs in the state.
Senior officials of the respective departments explained the project-wise details of water availability to CM KCR.
The Chief Minister advised the officials to prioritise the drinking water supply and continuously monitor water reserves in the reservoirs under the Godavari and Krishna. The Irrigation Department and Energy Departments have been asked to work in coordination and preserve every drop of water for future needs.
CM KCR said that water reaching through Pranahita should be lifted through Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla projects and fill the Mid Manair. From there, half of the water will be lifted to lower Manair Dam and the remaining half to the SRSP through the revived Flood Canal. Thus, the CM ordered the officials to ensure that the last ayacut of Kaleshwaram till Suryapet and the SRSP ayacut get irrigation water.
Ministers T Harish Rao, Vemula Prashanth Reddy, Errabelli Dayakar Rao, Jagadish Reddy, Koppula Eshwar, Indrakaran Reddy, MLCs Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, Kaushik Reddy, MLA Balka Suman, Jajula Surender, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, CM Principal Secretary Narsing Rao, Finance Special Chief Secretary Ramakrishna Rao, CM Secretaries -Smitha Sabharwal, Rajasekhar Reddy, Bhopal Reddy, HMWSSB MD Dana Kishore, Agriculture Secretary Raghunandan Rao, TRANSCO AND GENCO CMD Prabhakar Rao, Advisor to Life schemes K. Pentareddy, Irrigation Department ENCs Muralidhar, Hari Ram, Venkateswarlu, Mission Bhagiratha ENC Krupakar Reddy, Godavari and Krishna river projects ENCs, Irrigation Department officials participated in the high-level meeting.
CM KCR ordered the Agriculture Department officials to prepare “Contingency Plans” to supply seeds and fertilisers to the farmers who had already sowed Cotton and other crop seeds and are waiting for another round of sowing activity due to a dry spell. The officials have been asked to submit a minute-to-minute report every morning to the CMO. Based on the reports submitted by the Irrigation, Agriculture, Energy and Panchayat Raj Departments regarding the distribution of drinking water and irrigation water, the CM’s office will give orders and alerts to the ministers and public representatives of the respective areas from time to time. The CM said the CMO would resolve every issue by coordinating all wings.
CM KCR said, “Now, the value of Kaleshwaram will be known in difficult times to everyone. It is the testing time for the Irrigation department. Irrigation, Agriculture, and Energy wings have the responsibility to ensure an adequate supply of drinking and irrigation water by lifting water from Pranahita and Godavari. It is a crucial time for all of us.
“It is not the past, Telangana, and we should not think like earlier. We built projects to address the water crisis. Abundant water is available for drinking and irrigation needs. We should prove our potential when the state encounters difficult situations. You must prove yourself by coordinating all the systems and doing their job effectively. Put all your knowledge and energies. This situation should be taken as a challenge. This one-year experience will be useful in the future. All the officials should pledge to supply water, and the ENCs take every step on a war footing”, the Chief Minister told the officials.
CM KCR directed the Mission Bhagiratha ENC to monitor water reserves in the reservoirs to meet drinking water needs without any problem. Meanwhile, the CM told the officials that Udaya Samudram and Koil Sagar reservoirs are facing water shortage and filling them with required water reserves.
The CM directed the irrigation officials to take steps to finalise the procedures to award the works of pumping management of the irrigation projects to the public sector company GENCO instead of private contractors.
Since there is no possibility of supplying water from Nagarjuna Sagar to Paleru Reservoir due to deficit rainfall, the CM advised the officials to take steps to release water from Bayyannavagu to Paleru.
“Currently, there is no water flow from the upper Godavari. Water continues to flow to the Medigadda reservoir through Pranahita. Motors should run round the clock to lift 1 TMC of water from Medigadda to Annaram and Sundilla daily. The same amount of water should be moved from the Sundialla to mid-Manair. From there, half the water will be diverted to lower Manair, and half will be supplied to SRSP through the flood canal. Measures will be taken to ensure that irrigation water is supplied from the Kaleshwaram project to Sitaram Thanda, the last ayacut in Suryapet, via Tungaturthi,” said the Chief Minister.
CM KCR asked Irrigation and Energy Wings to coordinate with each other to estimate the requirement of electricity to lift water.
CM KCR urged the farmers to grow crops by following the instructions and suggestions made by Agriculture and Irrigation wing officials and utilising water judiciously in these difficult times. The Chief Minister reiterated that by defying all odds, the government will take steps to safeguard the farmers’ interests.
