AP, TG Staff Squabble over Water Discharge from Nagarjunasagar

Vijayawada: Differences cropped up between subordinate staff of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Saturday over the quantum of water discharged from the Nagarjunasagar Dam to the Right Canal, which carries water to AP for irrigation and drinking water purposes.

As per the directives of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), officials not below the rank of junior executive engineer, along with work inspectors from both Andhra and Telangana, must jointly record at a gauge readings of the water released from Nagarjunasagar Dam into the Right Canal every three hours 24x7. These readings should be sent to KRMB for posting on its website for record purposes.

As time passed, sub-staff started recording these readings with teams from TG and AP reaching the gauge spot 1.4 kilometres on the Right Canal at different times and noting down the water discharge readings. Telangana staff have reportedly been coming early and taking their recording without waiting for their counterparts from AP to arrive. This had become a regular practice for some time.

The same happened on Saturday too. TG sub-staff reached between 7–8 a.m. and noted the water level at 23.8 feet with discharge being 10,500 cusecs. Thereafter, the AP sub-staff arrived and took the readings as 23.2 feet and 10,100 cusecs respectively.

Telangana staff wanted their readings to be taken as final and this led to a disagreement with their AP counterparts.

In the interim, Nagarjunasagar Project superintendent engineer P. Krishna Mohan arrived at the site. He advised sub-staff of both the states to discharge their duty in coordination with each other.

Krishna Mohan said, “There has been a communication gap among the staff of the two states with regard to noting the readings of the water discharged. The problem has been resolved now.”

Sources say senior officials of both AP and TG have allegedly failed in closely coordinating with each other while carrying out the joint exercise at a mutually agreed time. They have entrusted the task to sub-staff, leading to misunderstandings.