No Backing Down - AP, Telangana in Tit-for-tat Water Releases From N'sagar
Both states raise canal releases as row over Krishna water sharing intensifies
Hyderabad: The ongoing tit-for-tat battle on water release between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh that began on August 26 from the Nagarjunasagar reservoir was taken up several notches on Friday by the two states with both sides increasing the amount of water being released from the reservoir.
On Friday, following AP stepping up its release from 2,000 cusecs of water that began this past Wednesday — from NS Right Canal, which is under its control – to 6,553 cusecs, Telangana increased its releases from the NS Left Canal to 6,650 cusecs from 2,000 cusecs.
Sources said there is now a competitive position that the two states have adopted on water releases from Nagarjunasagar, with neither side willing to back down in this contest. Both Telangana and AP are claiming that the releases are to meet drinking water needs of their people.
Both states – which entered into a ‘gentlemen’s ad-hoc agreement’ post the 2014 bifurcation of unified Andhra Pradesh that residuary AP will have control of Srisailam while Telangana will have control of Nagarjunasagar — have been at loggerheads accusing each other of drawing water in excess of their allotted shares for the current water year. While Telangana says AP is drawing water in excess from the Srisailam reservoir under its control, AP has been accusing Telangana of using power generation at the Srisailam Left Bank Power House as an excuse to draw water from Srisailam and send it down to Nagarjunasagar.
On Friday, the total water stored in Nagarjunasagar was 181.929 tmc ft against the total storage of 312.050 tmc ft.
Meanwhile, AP has demanded that the Union Jal Shakti Ministry stop Telangana from generating electricity at Srisailam, accusing Hyderabad of using around 40,000 cusecs of water from the Srisailam reservoir.
Stating that water in the Srisailam reservoir needed to be preserved to meet drinking water requirements in the coming months, AP, in its letter to the Jal Shakti Ministry, said Telangana was continuing to draw water despite being requested not to do so.. It said that Telangana had drawn more than 34 tmc ft of water in the guise of power generation. Andhra Pradesh also complained to the ministry about the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), saying that despite requests, the board had failed to stop Telangana from drawing water from Srisailam.
