Kumaraswamy requests Andhra CM to supply Krishna river water to Kolar, Chikkaballapura & Bangalore Rural districts

New Delhi: Union Steel Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday requested Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to supply surplus Krishna River water from the Bukkapatnam Reservoir near Puttaparthi to the drought-prone districts of Kolar, Chikkaballapura, and Bangalore Rural.

During a meeting with Naidu here, Kumaraswamy highlighted the severe drinking water scarcity in these districts, which border Andhra Pradesh and fall within the Palar and Pennar river basins.

He noted that rapid depletion of groundwater has left the region almost entirely dependent on borewells, making it one of the most water-stressed areas in South India.

Accompanied by JD(S) Kolar Lok Sabha member M Mallesh Babu, Kumaraswamy submitted a memorandum stating that the Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanthi (HNSS) project has already established a reliable system for transferring Krishna River water to the Pennar basin.

"The HNSS canal network now extends close to the borders of Kolar and Chikkaballapura districts, making a technical extension both feasible and cost-effective," the memorandum said.

He recalled the precedent set during the tenure of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister late N T Rama Rao, when 15 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water was diverted to Chennai under the “Telugu Ganga” project.

The memorandum proposed that, by optimally utilising the existing HNSS infrastructure, surplus monsoon flows from the Krishna River could be seasonally diverted exclusively for drinking water purposes to Kolar, Chikkaballapura, and Bangalore Rural districts (now largely part of Bangalore North).

“This approach would significantly reduce dependence on unsustainable groundwater extraction, avoid fresh environmental imbalances, minimise capital expenditure, and provide a reliable, climate-resilient drinking water solution to these chronically water-scarce regions,” the memorandum stated.