Telangana pulls out of Srisailam deal

Hyderabad: Irrigation minister T. Harish Rao on Monday withdrew the state government’s consent to maintain the water level at 854 feet at the Srisailam dam and accused the Krishna River Manag-ement Board (KRMB) of discriminating against the state by not ensuring early release of water from Srisailam to the Nagarjunasagar dam.

Mr Rao stated this in a letter to Union water resources minister Nitin Gadkari, and asked him to intervene in the matter. “The State of Telangana withdraws its consent to maintain the water level in Srisailam at 854 ft, which has got no sanctity, in order to ensure appropriate water level for utilisation of 264 tmc ft in Nagarjunasagar project left and right canals, serving both the states,” Mr Rao stated.

TS’ withdrawal of consent for the 854-ft level means that AP will not be allowed to utilise water for the Srisailam right branch canal and the Chennai water supply project through the Pothireddypadu head regulator, which requires water to be maintained at that level. If the level falls below 854 ft, AP cannot draw water for its Rayalaseema projects through Pothireddypadu.

The minister said the Telangana state government has been dissatisfied with the working of the KRMB since its constitution three years ago. The Board has been “ineffective and at times even biased and partial,” he alleged.

AP violated water release order: Telangana
He said the situation had arisen “mainly due to the unprofessional approach of the KRMB and partly, at times, un-accommodative stand taken by AP.”

He cited instances to support this claim. He said that the KRMB had failed to release optimum quantity of water stored in Srisailam to Nagarjunasagar dam in the ongoing water year to meet the requirements of the left bank. 

“Efforts made by the KRMB have been half hearted and ineffective to stop further withdrawals from the Pothireddypadu head regulator,” he said.

He said the board had equated “non-consumptive use of water from Srisailam power houses by both states as violation of water release orders.” 

He said AP had violated the water release order by the KRMB and used more than the allocated 5 tmc ft  of water through Pothireddy-padu. TS has drawn water for its electricity needs and to store water in Nagarjunasagar dam for providing drinking water and irrigation in both states.

He said the KRMB ought to give the first priority to supply water to Nagarjunasagar for drinking and irrigation needs. Instead it had allowed water to be stored up to the full reservoir level of 885 ft at Srisailam. This led to denial of irrigation in the NS Dam command area for the kharif and late kharif seasons.

He told Mr Gadkari that instructions were required to be given to KRMB to protect the area irrigated by Nagarjunasagar before allowing storage of water at Srisailam above 854 ft level. AP had drawn more than 60 tmc ft of water through Pothireddypadu for the needs of outside Krishna basin area, in the last two years, he pointed out.

He said though the TS government had stopped drawal of water through the power house in compliance with KRMB instructions, AP is drawing water through Pothireddypadu.