Telangana agrees to meet Karnataka's drinking water needs in Tungabhadra basin

Telangana has responded positively to Karnataka's request to utilise 3.5 tmc ft of water under Rajolibanda diversion scheme to mitigate the acute water shortage in the Tungabhadra catchment area in the state (Karnataka), Water Resources Minister M B Patil said on Thursday.

Patil had led a high-level delegation to Telangana and met his counterpart Harish Rao in Hyderabad, to discuss the issue.

The minister said the delegation had highlighted the distress condition prevailing in the Tungabhadra basin in Karnataka and the urgent need to meet the drinking water and irrigation demands.

He said it had been decided that engineers from both states would work out the water requirement for each state and then make available the minimum requirement of water to Karnataka.

During the meeting, Karnataka highlighted the gesture shown by the state by releasing one tmc ft of water to meet the needs of Telangana in 2016-17 and also in 2017-18.

Karnataka has assured full support to the modernisation works of Rajolibanda diversion scheme, so that the works could be completed by July 2018.

As per the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal award, Telangana's share of water towards Rajolibanda diversion scheme is 3.501 tmc ft on pro-rata basis and the said quota has not been utilised by Telangana.