Telangana, AP police intensify vigil on Nagarjunasagar Project; AP Irrigation Minister denies illegal pumping of water

NALGONDA: A high tension situation prevailed for the second consecutive day at the Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) on Friday as a large contingent of police personnel from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh intensified their vigil to prevent untoward incidents in the area.

On Thursday, the Andhra Pradesh irrigation department officials had illegally pumped out around 4,000 cusecs of water from the right canal of the NSP without taking consent from their Telangana counterparts on polling day. This created a flutter between both the Telugu speaking-states. Taking serious note of the issue, the Telangana Government had decided to knock on the doors of Krishna River Board Management (KRMB) and submitted a detailed report to the Telangana Government on Thursday.

According to NSP officials, the water storage in the project stood at 522 feet and it would reach dead storage if water levels were decreased by another 12 feet. A team of officials from Telangana irrigation department, Chief Minister’s secretary Smitha Sabharwal and IG rank officials from both the States are likely to inspect the situation at NSP on Friday. Union Minister for Tourism G Kishan Reddy also reportedly wrote a letter to the Centre seeking its intervention to ensure that the two major dams, Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam– be brought under the ambit of the KRMB.

The Telangana Special Protection Force (SPF) and irrigation department officials filed a complaint against their Andhra Pradesh counterparts in the Nagarjunasagar Project water dispute. In their complaint, the Telangana officials had mentioned that Andhra Pradesh police forcibly entered into Telangana and damaged the CCTV cameras on the project. The Andhra Pradesh police even extended support to their irrigation department officials to illegally pump out water from the right canal of the project. Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh police also filed a complaint on the Telangana irrigation department officials at Nagarjunasagar police station.

Reacting to the water dispute issue at NSP, Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Minister Ambati Rambabu said, “We have only taken as much water as is rightfully ours! Don’t forget, 66 per cent Krishna water belongs to Andhra Pradesh. Some media houses are spreading misinformation on Nagarjunasagar dam issue. We have not flouted any treaty, 66 per cent of Krishna water belongs to Andhra Pradesh and 34 per cent to Telangana. We have not used even a single drop of water that does not belong to us. The Andhra Pradesh irrigation department officials has tried to open the right canal in our own territory. I reiterate the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) Government has only tried to use water from the 66 per cent share that is rightfully ours to fulfill the needs of the farmers and people of our State.”