Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh has withdrawn an additional 4 tmc ft of water from the tail pond of the Nagarjunasagar dam, leaving irrigation and power sector officials flabbergasted and the Telangana state government seething in anger. The pond is owned by the TS Genco but is located in AP.
"The 4 TMC could have been pumped back into the reservoir by TSGenco and could have been used to augment supply of drinking water in Telangana state, including Hyderabad," a TS irrigation department official said.
The siphoning off of the water happened on the night of April 13, and was discovered by TS Genco officials only two days later. Matters began coming to a head on Friday once the report trickled up to the government.
A furious TS government has issued a showcause notice to TSGenco's hydel power wing chief, seeking an explanation on how AP drew the water. The irrigation department is learnt to have shot off a letter to the Krishna River Management Board complaining about the incident.
The KRMB had on April 12 sanctioned drawal of 5.5 tmc ft of water by AP to meet its drinking water needs. Of this, 2.5 tmc ft was from a previous allocation that AP had not used. The KRMB okayed an additional 3 tmc ft of water use by Andhra Pradesh against its demand of 9 tmc ft.
