Tummidihetti Barrage: Telangana to Press Maharashtra for 152 m Height

Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is expected in Mumbai on Monday, 26 October, to ask Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to accept a 152-metre barrage at Tummidihetti on the Pranhita river, four metres higher than the 148 metres Maharashtra agreed to in 2016. Telangana officials say only the higher level lets water flow by gravity towards the Sripada Yellampalli reservoir, avoiding costly pumping, according to reports by Deccan Chronicle and ETV Bharat. Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy and irrigation adviser Adityanath Das will join him.

Two Lakh Acres in Old Adilabad at Stake

The barrage, in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district where the Wainganga and Wardha join to form the Pranhita, is meant to irrigate about 2 lakh acres in the old Adilabad district, a forested area with a large tribal population, the Chief Minister told a review meeting on Friday. Officials put the cost at about Rs 12,000 crore. At 152 metres the reservoir would submerge about 2,300 acres, against under 1,000 acres at 150 metres, and Telangana says no Maharashtra village would go under water. The state needs to divert about 80 TMC.

A Project Dropped for Medigadda in 2016

Tummidihetti was the head of the Pranhita-Chevella scheme planned in undivided Andhra Pradesh. The Central Water Commission (CWC) gave in-principle approval in 2010, but Maharashtra objected to submergence. After talks failed in August 2016, the previous BRS government shifted the diversion downstream to Medigadda under the Kaleshwaram project. Medigadda’s piers sank in October 2023, and the National Dam Safety Authority faulted its design and construction. The Congress promised gravity diversion from Tummidihetti in its 2023 campaign. The record since then shows slow progress: Revanth Reddy wrote to Fadnavis on 26 May and got no reply, raised it with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 11 June, and wrote to Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil on 5 August. Water shortage is already shaping state policy, with farmers asked to skip rabi paddy this season.

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Andhra’s Objection and a CWC Meeting Still Pending

Andhra Pradesh objects to Telangana drawing 80 TMC instead of the 20 TMC first planned, saying downstream flows could drop by 60 to 80 TMC. Maharashtra’s water resources department has asked for a fresh water availability study and details of how water will be shared between Medigadda and Tummidihetti. At a CWC meeting on 1 September, the commission’s chairman proposed meeting again in a month; reports do not show that it has. Telangana has not said publicly how much power gravity flow would save, or how the 152-metre plan changes the Rs 12,000 crore estimate. More state news on Daily Updates.

Source: Based on reporting by Deccan Chronicle, ETV Bharat and IANS via Punjab Kesari.

Image: Deccan Chronicle.