The Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday dismissed Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s assertion that the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project was halted at his behest, calling the claim inaccurate and politically motivated.
Responding to remarks made by Reddy in the Telangana Legislative Assembly a day earlier, the Telugu Desam Party-led NDA government said the suspension of works on the project had no connection to any request or pressure from the Telangana government. It rejected suggestions that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had ordered a halt to the project out of deference to his Telangana counterpart.
Reddy had told the Assembly that he persuaded both the Andhra Pradesh government and the Centre to stop the project, alleging that it was diverting nearly three TMC of Krishna river water daily. He also claimed he made any inter-state discussions conditional on the project being put on hold and proposed sending an all-party fact-finding team to verify the status of the works.
In its clarification, the Andhra Pradesh government said the project had effectively stalled well before the present administration assumed office in 2024. It pointed to decisions taken during the previous Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government, when construction was initiated without securing mandatory statutory and environmental clearances.
According to the state government, despite public claims that the project would deliver substantial water benefits to the drought-prone Rayalaseema region, work began without approvals from competent authorities. It noted that the Telangana government had challenged the project during the earlier regime, approaching courts, the Centre and the National Green Tribunal.
Following these interventions, regulatory authorities ordered a stoppage of construction, citing procedural violations. The Andhra Pradesh government said directions to halt the project had been issued as early as 2020 by the NGT and the Union government, much before the current NDA dispensation came to power.
Accusing political parties in Telangana of attempting to extract political advantage, the Andhra Pradesh government said narratives were being shaped around Chandrababu Naidu for domestic political consumption. It asserted that the state would not compromise on its water entitlements or the irrigation needs of Rayalaseema.
The government added that it would soon release documents detailing the project’s launch, the absence of clearances and the regulatory reasons behind the suspension of works.
