Releasing the water, the AP irrigation minister accused Telangana of preventing the state from using its rightful share of Krishna waters.
Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. (Creative Commons)
The Andhra Pradesh irrigation officials released 3,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water on the intervening night of 29-30 November from the Nagarjuna Sagar dam. The release is escalating into yet another inter-state water row.
Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Minister Ambati Rambabu accused the Telangana government of preventing the state from using its rightful share of Krishna waters.
“We have a right for 66 percent of the Krishna waters. But the Telangana government is creating hurdles,” he said.
The minister said that the Andhra Pradesh government had no desire to use even one drop of Telangana’s share of water. He accused the Telangana government of the habit of switching on their hydel stations on the left bank canal of the Srisailam Project because they were stationed in their territory.
Meanwhile, Vijayapuri Town Police in the Nalgonda district of Telangana registered a case against Andhra Pradesh police on a complaint lodged by Sub-Inspector of Police S Vijay Kumar of the Telangana Special Protection Force (TSPF) unit at the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam.
In his complaint, he said that about 500 armed policemen bulldozed the gate, trespassed into the dam and laid barbed wire fencing, taking control of the entire stretch of the dam from the 13th gate to the 26th gate and the right canal head regulator.
The complainant said that the Andhra Pradesh police had violated the existing systems in force by breaking four CCTV cameras. They then operated the right canal head regulator and released water for the Andhra region, he said.
As the release of water took place about six hours before the commencement of polling for Telangana elections on Thursday, Telangana Congress leaders accused the KCR-led government of trying to whip up anti-Andhra feelings and benefit in the election, by managing to get the Andhra Pradesh government to lift the gates.
According to Telangana officials, the Andhra Pradesh police did not seek any clearance from the Telangana government before releasing the water.
Nagarjuna Sagar dam, built across the river Krishna, is under the control of the Telangana government while the control of Srisailam project is under the Andhra Pradesh government.
Andhra Pradesh officials, however, said that they opened the gates on their own as the Telangana government was not very cooperative and always created problems with regard to water-sharing.
There is an acute need for drinking water because of the raging drought in the state, they said and found fault with the Telangana government setting up check posts in Andhra Pradesh territory, which they said was unwarranted.
They said the officials of the Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Department tried to be nice to their Telangana counterparts but it was the latter who always created issues.
They also accused Telangana of not letting Andhra Pradesh release their share of water from the dam.
The Andhra Pradesh officials said that the Telangana officials kept trespassing into the former’s territory and controlled the water release points.
The imaginary central line of the Krishna river is considered the boundary between the two states. The left side of the river belongs to Telangana and the right to Andhra Pradesh.
On the right canal, Andhra Pradesh has a powerhouse and a head regulator for the release of water to Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh deployed a large number of police personnel on its side of the Nagarjuna Sagar Project as irrigation officials were letting out a discharge of 3,000 cusecs of water into the right canal.
The police deployment will continue till the negotiations between the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments over water are completed, and a concrete decision is taken, police officials said.
“The situation is peaceful. There are a substantial number of police personnel on this side. The deployment will be required until both states arrive at a concrete decision over the issue,” Guntur Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police G Pala Raju told PTI.
The Telangana government has also deployed its police forces on its side of the dam.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Engineer-in-Chief (EIC) C Narayana Reddy said that the Union Home Ministry will conduct a review meeting over the water issue with Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy today.
Reddy said the state government would update the facts with the Union Home Ministry.
The EIC said that 3,000 cusecs of water will continue to flow into Andhra Pradesh through one gate which was opened on Thursday. It will take three days to reach the tail end, after which summer storage tanks will be filled, taking up to 10 days.
Reddy said the irrigation officials may stop releasing water if it rained heavily.
Tension at Nagarjuna Sagar is not a new phenomenon. It began with the bifurcation of the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh state.
In August 2014, immediately after the formation of a separate state, the Telangana government stopped the release of water to the right canal.
The Andhra Pradesh government had then protested against this “audacity”. At that time, there was a large mobilisation of police forces on both sides, but soon wise counsel prevailed and both sides retreated.
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