Hyderabad: A senior engineering official from Telangana said, “We have instructed the chief engineer of Nagarj-unasagar not to comply with the orders issued by the KRMB chairman till further instructions from the government.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Telangana irrigation minister T. Harish Rao spoke to Mr Pandya in Delhi and asked him not to entertain any fresh requests from the AP government on wa-ter releases without consulting the Telangana government. He also told him that the water released as per the earlier orders had been utilised for raising paddy nurseries instead of drinking as had been apprehended by the Telangana government.
“I spoke to Mr Pandya this morning and clearly explained that we were suspicious about the water being used for raising paddy nurseries. I also told him that the Krishna Board should not rush into ordering fresh releases from Nagarjunasagar without taking the ground realities into consideration and the issues raised by Telangana government. I also told him that the Telangana government would not comply with the decisions if at all they were issued without the Telangana government’s agreement,” Mr Harish Rao had told Deccan Chronicle on Tuesday afternoon.
He said that the KRMB should consult both the state governments before taking any decision as per the AP Reorganisation Act. He also said that he had been assured by Mr Pandya that no decision would be taken without consulting the Telangana government.
However, on Tuesday evening, Mr Pandya directed the Nagarjunasagar dam chief engineer to continue the supplies at the same rate by another week.
Angered by the latest orders, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao spoke to Mr Harish Rao and the Special Chief Secretary of irrigation Aravind Reddy and directed them not to comply with the orders and asked them to write a strong-worded letter to Mr Pandya on his arbitrary orders.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh irrigation minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao said, “In fact these orders are nothing new; during President’s Rule the Governor had taken the decision to release 10 tmc ft of water to Krishna Delta for drinking needs and that had been agreed by officers from both sides. We are equally concerned about drinking water needs of Hyderabad and Telangana districts and are requesting authorities to release waters to those areas also, but due to precarious seasonal conditions, the Krishna Delta System urgently needs water for drinking purposes as what we have not even realised 1 tmc ft from the earlier releases of 3.6 tmc ft.”
KRMB, in its latest ord-ers on Tuesday evening stated: “As per the information gathered from independent sources of Central Water Commis-sion it learnt that the water realised at Prakasam Barrage is much less than what has been released from Nagarjunasagar dam. This has been further authenticated by the discharges observed at CWC site at Wadenapalli, which is about 2 km downstream of the Pulichintala Project and upstream of Prakasam barrage. The possible reason for water in required quantity not reaching the Prakasam barrage is because of in-sufficient head in Pulichi-ntala Reservoir for the sluices to drive the water downstream of Pulichintala Dam.
“Considering the drinking water requirements of the delta area at Prakasam barrage for the limited use of drinking in the Krishna Delta region, water may be continued to be released at 6,000 cusecs per day up to July 8, 2014. As far as other releases are concerned, the same may be maintained as scheduled.”
