Nagarjuna Sagar: Telangana, AP impasse resolved by Centre, KRMB asks AP to stop pumping water

NEW DELHI: The Krishna River water dispute between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) for the last two days ended on Friday with the intervention of Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla. In a video link conference held with the Chief Secretaries and Director-General of Police (DGPs) of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, he took stock of the situation at the NSP.

During the meeting, Ajay Kumar Bhalla made a proposal for continuing the procedures followed for water release from the project before November 28. He also informed the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh officials that the NSP management would be handled by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) under the surveillance of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel. Officials from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had agreed to the proposal made by the Union Home Ministry.

Telangana Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari said that a large contingent of police personnel from Andhra Pradesh forcibly entered on the Nagarjunasagar Project and destroyed the CCTV cameras. Apart from that, the Andhra Pradesh irrigation department officials had also illegally pumped around 5,000 cusecs of water from gates five and seven. This created law and order issues in Telangana, especially on the polling day, she said.

The Chief Secretary said that this was the second time Andhra Pradesh was involved in the violation and illegally pumped out from the project. Due to illegally pumping of water from the project, it had became a tough task for the irrigation department officials to supply water for around 2 crore population in and around Hyderabad, she said and appealed to the Union Home Ministry to continue the status quo followed before 2014.

KRMB asks Andhra Pradesh to stop illegally pumping water from NSP

The KRMB on Friday asked the Andhra Pradesh Government to stop pumping water from the right canal of the Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP). KRMB member secretary Ajay Kumar Gupta wrote a letter to Andhra Pradesh principal secretary (Irrigation) Shashi Bhushan Kumar in connection with the water dispute between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at Nagarjuna Sagar.

In his letter, Ajay Kumar Gupta said that around 5.01 TMCs of water was released to Andhra Pradesh in October against the supply of five TMCs. The KRMB did not receive any appeal from the Andhra Pradesh Government regarding water release for the State after November 30.

TREA condemns Andhra Pradesh officials forcibly entry on NSP

Telangana Retired Engineers Association (TREA) president M Syam Prasad Reddy condemned the forcible entry and illegal pumping of water from the right canal of NSP on Thursday. “It is a completely undemocratic act. Following the Andhra Pradesh State Bifurcation Act, the joint projects of Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar were placed under Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. Following this, the Telangana Government had been releasing water to the right and left canals of the Nagarjunasagar project as per KRMB permits since the last nine years without any problems,” he said.

TREA general secretary T Venkatesam said that as per the permissions given by the Telangana Government to KRMB recently, around eight TMCs of water was released to the Paleru and Wyra reservoirs for drinking water needs through the left channel. Out of it, around two TMCs of water was also given to Andhra Pradesh. If the officials from Andhra Pradesh intimate their Telangana counterparts about drinking water needs, the water would be released to Andhra Pradesh as per the norms given by the KRMB.

“It is a heinous act by Andhra Pradesh to illegally pump out water late at night when the Telangana Government machinery and police are busy with poll duties. We request the Union Government and the KRMB to respond immediately and mount pressure on the Andhra Pradesh Government to immediately withdraw the police forces deployed on NSP and resolve the issue, besides ensuring measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future,” Venkatesam said.