Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, participated in the Praja Palana – Pragathi Bata (People's Governance – Path of Progress) programme at Kagaznagar, reiterating his government's goal of constructing the Thummidihetti project to deliver irrigation water to 2.5 lakh acres across the erstwhile Adilabad district. The Chief Minister called on the Maharashtra government to cooperate and urged Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy to take initiative in facilitating the project.

Context

Posting in Telugu on X, Revanth Reddy wrote: 'తుమ్మిడిహెట్టి నిర్మించి, ఉమ్మడి ఆదిలాబాద్ జిల్లాలో 2.5 లక్షల ఎకరాలకు సాగునీరు ఇవ్వాలన్నది మా లక్ష్యం' — 'Our goal is to construct Thummidihetti and provide irrigation water to 2.5 lakh acres in the combined Adilabad district.' He added that Maharashtra must cooperate and that central minister Kishan Reddy must show initiative. The statement came during a public outreach programme in Kagaznagar, a border town in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district close to the Maharashtra boundary.

Policy Backdrop

The Thummidihetti project is a proposed irrigation infrastructure — involving a barrage or lift mechanism — designed to draw waters from the Godavari river for the drought-prone, largely tribal districts of northern Telangana. Since Telangana's formation in 2014, successive state governments have pursued additional Godavari basin projects to address persistent irrigation deficits in the Adilabad region, which remains heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture.

Inter-state coordination under the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal awards governs water-sharing arrangements between Telangana and Maharashtra following bifurcation. Any new infrastructure drawing from the shared basin requires the concurrence of the upstream state and, typically, central facilitation through the Union Jal Shakti Ministry. G. Kishan Reddy, a BJP Union Minister from Telangana, is being positioned by Revanth Reddy as a key interlocutor between the state and the Centre on this file.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the proposed project would be farming and tribal communities across the erstwhile combined Adilabad district — which now spans Adilabad, Nirmal, Mancherial, and Komaram Bheem Asifabad districts. Irrigation access in this belt has long lagged behind other parts of Telangana, making it a politically sensitive zone where development promises have been a fixture since the statehood agitation.

For the Congress-led Telangana government, which came to power in December 2023, delivering on irrigation commitments in northern districts is central to its rural constituency strategy. The appeal to a BJP Union Minister also signals a pragmatic cross-party ask, framing the project as a regional development imperative rather than a partisan one.

What's Next

The key variables are whether Maharashtra — governed by a separate coalition — agrees to formal inter-state negotiations on the project, and whether the Union Jal Shakti Ministry convenes facilitation talks. Observers will watch for any scheduled meetings between Telangana and Maharashtra irrigation officials, or a formal response from G. Kishan Reddy's office. Without central mediation and Maharashtra's consent, the project cannot advance beyond the planning stage. The Chief Minister's public push at a border-district programme signals that Revanth Reddy intends to keep this issue in the political spotlight through the coming months.