Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Wednesday released water into the right canal of the Priyadarshini Jurala Project after Karnataka assured it would release water from its reservoirs. Earlier, a Telangana delegation led by Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao and several Congress MLAs met Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar in Bengaluru and requested immediate water supply to protect standing crops under the Jurala, Nettempadu, Bhima, and Koilsagar irrigation projects.

The delegation informed Karnataka that nearly 5.5 lakh acres of farmland under the four irrigation projects are at a critical stage and require water for crop growth. Telangana requested the release of 5,000 cusecs of water for one month to prevent crop losses. According to an official statement, DK Shivakumar responded positively to the request, following which Telangana released water into the Jurala project’s right canal.

Meanwhile, farmers in the Jurala command area continued their protests, demanding sufficient water for irrigation. The issue also triggered political reactions, with the BRS staging protests and BJP state president N. Ramchander Rao being stopped by police while heading to meet protesting farmers. Tourism Minister Jupally Krishna Rao said that although the Jurala Project has a storage capacity of over 9 TMC, a significant portion is lost to silt while the remaining water must be reserved to meet drinking water needs until June 2027.