The Chief Minister's Office of Telangana announced on 25 June 2026 that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy formally urged Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil to ensure Telangana receives its full allocated 15 TMC of water under the Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS), at a tripartite event held in Hospet, Karnataka.

Context

The occasion was the inauguration of 33 newly installed gates at the Tungabhadra Dam near Hospet, a landmark infrastructure upgrade attended by the chief ministers of all three riparian states. Chief Ministers D.K. Shivakumar of Karnataka, N. Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh, and Revanth Reddy of Telangana joined Minister C.R. Patil alongside senior ministers and officials from all three states.

Revanth Reddy told the gathering that under the RDS, Telangana can currently utilise only 5 TMC of the 15.9 TMC allocated to the Palamuru region, leaving 10 TMC unreached. He attributed the shortfall to siltation in the Tungabhadra reservoir and systemic problems in water conveyance.

Policy Backdrop

The Tungabhadra Dam, completed in 1953 as a joint venture between the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Maharaja of Mysore, was designed to serve irrigation across what are today Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal formalised inter-state water shares in its 1976 award, and the Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme was sanctioned subsequently to channel Tungabhadra flows to drought-prone districts including Gadwal, Alampur and Palamuru.

Revanth Reddy invoked that founding spirit at Hospet, noting that 'Mysore Maharaju, Hyderabad Nizam Nawab kalisi Tungabhadra Dam nu nirmincharu' — the Mysore Maharaja and the Hyderabad Nizam together built the Tungabhadra Dam for the farmers of the region — and called on elected representatives to match that resolve.

Stakeholders and Impact

The 10 TMC gap in water delivery directly affects lakhs of farmers in Gadwal and Alampur constituencies and the wider Palamuru region, one of Telangana's most agriculturally dependent and historically under-irrigated zones. Revanth Reddy warned that water that should be reaching fields is instead flowing unused into the sea.

The new 33-gate infrastructure at the Tungabhadra Dam is expected to improve regulation of releases, potentially benefiting cultivators across Ballari, Anantapur, Kurnool and Palamuru districts — spanning all three states. The Chief Minister described the gate restoration as a solution to 'a three-generation-old problem.'

What's Next

Revanth Reddy expressed confidence that Minister C.R. Patil would provide a 'permanent solution' to the inter-state water dispute, stating that discussions at Hospet had reached a 'conclusive stage.' He framed the tripartite talks — held on the banks of the Tungabhadra at Ballari — as a potentially historic moment for resolving long-standing disputes over Krishna, Godavari and Tungabhadra waters.

The Jal Shakti Ministry is now expected to issue follow-up directions on gate operations, desilting timelines and actual water releases under the RDS. Any binding framework emerging from this tripartite engagement could reduce the need for litigation before the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal and set a precedent for cooperative inter-state water governance in peninsular India.