BRS MLAs demand restart of Kannepalli pump house to meet Hyderabad’s drinking water needs

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs from Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts on Saturday demanded the immediate resumption of Godavari water pumping at the Kannepalli pump house in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district to avert a possible drinking water crisis in Hyderabad and its surrounding areas.

A delegation comprising BRS MLAs Devireddy Sudheer Reddy, Madhavaram Krishna Rao, K.P. Vivekanand, Marri Rajasekhar Reddy and Bandari Lakshma Reddy visited the Kannepalli pump house of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) in Mahadevpur mandal.

Addressing the media, the MLAs warned that they would lay siege to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s residence along with residents of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad if the government failed to act.

They alleged that the Congress government was allowing Godavari water to flow into the sea, instead of utilising it to meet Hyderabad’s drinking water needs.

Claiming that nearly 750 TMC of Godavari water had flowed into the sea since June, they said lifting at least 250 TMC could have improved reservoir, tank and groundwater levels.

Mr. Vivekanand accused the Congress government of ignoring warnings about the possible impact of El Nino and failing to restart the pump house.

Mr. Sudheer Reddy alleged that the government had failed to act on complaints about the blast targeting the pillars of the Medigadda barrage and was running a misinformation campaign against KLIP - instead of undertaking repairs.

The BRS MLAs also cited reports of around 7,000 water tankers being booked daily in Hyderabad, saying this reflected the growing pressure on drinking water supplies in the city.