Hyderabad: Physically battling out the crisis that has been going on between the TS and AP in connection with the water from the Nagarjunasagar dam, officials of the two states argued, then abused each other before the police of the two states virtually set upon each other with lathis at the dam.
Though the DSPs and inspectors of both states tried to separate the clashing constables, the melee went on for few minutes. The Special Protection Force, which manages the dam’s security and safety, also tried to control the warring police personnel.
It all started with the AP irrigation secretary sending a message to the Right Branch Canal superintending engineer to go to the dam and operate the releases for the canal though there were instructions from the Telangana government to dam officials to stop releases. Officials of both states reached the dam and argued in favour of their respective government’s orders.
AP officials claimed that as per the AP Reorganisation Act, of the 26 gates of the dam, each would get 13 gates and it was their right to operate the gates of the dam. Telangana officials argued that as per the Krishna River Management Board’s decision, the Srisailam gates were to be operated by AP while the Nagarjunasagar Dam gates were to be operated by Telangana.
After Friday’s debacle, AP CM N. Chandrababu Naidu contacted his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao in the evening and invited him for talks, which the latter agreed to. Both CMs later spoke to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan who agreed to host the meeting on Saturday at 10 am at Raj Bhavan.
In a related development, the irrigation ministers of Telangana and AP T. Harish Rao and Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao held separate media conferences in the evening, blaming each other while sticking to their arguments.
“We are for amicable settlement of the issue, we have been inviting AP officials to come for negotiations and inform us about their requirements for water, which they have not done so far. We can release water for their crops but there shall be a mechanism, we cannot release water depriving the same to our farmers here,” Mr Harish Rao said.
Countering his argument, Mr Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao said, “Time and again Telangana has been non-cooperative on water releases to AP; it is all politically motivated; they want to deprive our rights under Bachawat Tribunal allocations. We still require 45 TMC ft of water for the standing crops in both Krishna Delta and Nagarjunasagar Right Branch Canal. If they operate the Left Bank powerhouse, Krishna delta will get water and Telangana can generate power for their requirements. Why cannot they think on these lines?” he asked.
