RTI reveals 22-month delay in Telangana’s Rs 808 crore groundwater project approval
HYDERABAD: Hyderabad RTI activist Robin Zaccheus has uncovered a troubling saga of delays in Telangana’s groundwater management. Despite being proposed nearly two years ago, a Rs 808 crore project under the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) Phase-II still awaits approval, with both the Central and State governments sharing the blame for this prolonged inaction, causing severe losses to the state’s water management system.
The RTI response shows that on August 14, 2024, the Ministry of Jal Shakti’s Department of Water Resources asked Telangana’s Irrigation and CAD Department to confirm its willingness to join the scheme within a week. This was to speed up approval from the Competent Authority.
Subsequently, Telangana took six months to respond. On February 5-6, 2025, the state’s Irrigation and CAD Department formally agreed to join the scheme. The Ground Water Department informed the Centre the next day.
However, that should have started the process. It did not. As of June 15, 2026, more than 16 months after Telangana’s response, the RTI reply states, “No physical correspondence has taken place between the Department of Water Resources (DoWR) and the State Government so far, and only virtual meetings have been conducted and the project approval is still awaited.”
Meanwhile, Telangana’s proposal to the central government is worth Rs 808 crore, with 60% funded by the Centre and 40% by the State, over seven years. The scheme targets Gram Panchayats in water-stressed districts under Atal Bhujal Yojana Phase-II. It covers five states facing severe groundwater depletion, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.
In addition, the RTI documents also show a separate proposal under the Water-Accelerated Management of Resources through Integrated Technology And Management (W-AMRITAM) scheme, which succeeded the National Hydrology Project, was submitted in March 2025. This project is worth Rs 188 crore, and approval is also pending.
Robin Zaccheus, who filed the RTI on May 11, 2026, blames both governments. “Both governments are responsible. The Central Government had in-principle approval but failed to sanction even after the state agreed. Telangana took six months on what was meant to be a time-bound, week-long request. The files moved slowly at both ends while the ground beneath us kept being depleted,” he said.
Furthermore, the RTI documents back this up. The Centre’s own letter said it had in-principle approval from the Department of Expenditure for a nationwide scheme worth about Rs 8,200 crore, yet it still could not approve Telangana’s project after 16 months.
The delay has real consequences. Telangana has some of the lowest groundwater availability in India, partly because of its crystalline aquifer geology in the south. Atal Bhujal Yojana Phase-II aims to help water-stressed areas with community-led Water Security Plans, micro-irrigation incentives, crop diversification, and improved groundwater monitoring.
Because the project is stalled, farmers in over-exploited areas have lost access to micro-irrigation and crop diversification incentives. These could have lowered their costs and improved yields. Communities have not been able to create Water Security Plans, which would give them control over groundwater use. About 85% of rural and 50% of urban drinking water comes from groundwater, but it is still managed without focused planning.
“Instead of sustainable management, we continue with crisis-driven borewell digging. That is the real cost of 22 months of inaction,” said Robin Zaccheus.
Additionally, Atal Bhujal Yojana Phase-II builds on Phase-I, which ran from April 2020 in seven states. The first phase delivered real results, 47 blocks and 813 Gram Panchayats saw higher groundwater levels from community interventions. Phase II includes Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs), which reward states for verifiable results and create competition for better performance.
Telangana’s inclusion was considered essential because of its groundwater stress. The delay means the state has already lost nearly two years of the seven-year window. During this time, capacity-building, community mobilization, and the preparation of the Water Security Plan could have begun.
In response, Zaccheus is calling on both governments to publicly disclose the approval status, explain what has been discussed in virtual meetings, and commit to a clear timeline.
“Before announcing any new infrastructure, both governments owe citizens a full accounting of what happened to this file over 22 months. Groundwater does not wait for bureaucratic convenience,” he added.
