Tadepalli, August 21, 2026: Former Minister Sake Sailajanath said Rayalaseema has suffered whenever Chandrababu Naidu has been in power and demanded that the government immediately fill the region’s reservoirs while water is available in Srisailam. Addressing the media at the YSRCP central office in Tadepalli, he questioned why Rayalaseema projects remained inadequately filled even when Srisailam held over 180 TMC of water and the reservoir was around 90% full.
He said Velugodu, Brahmamsagar, Somasila and Kandaleru under the Telugu Ganga system were still below 50 per cent storage, while Gorakallu, Owk, Gandikota, Paidipalem, Vamikonda and Chitravathi also had substantial vacant capacity. With Pothireddypadu Head Regulator having a capacity of 40,400 cusecs, he questioned why only around 8,000 cusecs was being released and demanded at least 40,000 cusecs be drawn immediately when Srisailam levels permit.
Sailajanath said the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme was conceived as an insurance mechanism for the region and could have enabled large-scale drawal even at lower Srisailam levels. He said nearly 90 per cent of the project works had been completed and questioned whether the remaining works were stopped because of an understanding with Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. He also questioned Chandrababu’s silence over the proposed Almatti height increase and the Upper Bhadra project affecting Tungabhadra flows.
He said the government cancelled tenders issued during Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure to increase Handri-Neeva capacity to 6,300 cusecs and reduced the effective flow to around 3,800 cusecs, while lining works were of poor quality. He demanded that the government disclose how many acres had actually received water despite its claims of spending thousands of crores.
With crops drying up, farmers in distress and El Niño risks ahead, Sailajanath demanded full releases through Pothireddypadu, Malyala and Muchumarri to Handri-Neeva and other Rayalaseema projects. He announced that YSRCP would visit the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator on August 24 to protest the coalition government’s neglect of Rayalaseema’s water rights.
*DSC was managed, not merit-based: MLCs*
