Vijayawada: With the heavy inflows into the Sri Sailam and eventual overflows from the project and subsequent power production through flood water, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu asked officials for a comprehensive report on the impact of hydel power production on his decision of not to increase power tariffs in 2018-19.
The chief minister said this paved the way for the aproduction of cheaper hydel power. Last month same day, the hydel power production is zero at Srisailam. Now the project produces more than 16.5 MU power.
“To continue this way we need to conserve water at big scale. According to an estimate, if Srisailam project overflows, state gets thousands of crores rupees of wealth. With energy security, we are moving towards water security. With 4.5 lakhs of pit ponds in the state, even in Rayalaseema there exists plenty of water now,” says Mr Naidu.
The chief minister further said that water in the reservoirs gives water security and being number one in energy security, we need to work to be first in water security also.
He directed the officials to formulate an action plan for that. Responding to the chief minister’s words, Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar said that along with plenty of rains, the NREGP works resulted in potential increase in ground water levels in the state.
He informed the Chief Minister that even in Anantapur district, water is plenty after 15 years. In coastal districts the ground water level increased from 9.08 metres to as much as 7.94 metres. The same increased to 14.97 metres from 19.66 metres in Rayalaseema. He told the CM that experts term it as excellent enhancement.
