We diverted 46 TMC to Rayalaseema: Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Minister P Anil Kumar
VIJAYAWADA: A day after TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu attributed the floods in Krishna river to poor flood management by the YSRC government, Water Resources Minister P Anil Kumar gave a point-by-point rebuttal to the Opposition Leader’s criticism. He said had water been released earlier as per Naidu’s argument from Srisailam reservoir, it would not have been possible to divert 46 TMC of water to Rayalaseema as done now.
In a press meet here on Saturday, he explained that the engineering officials regulated the water inflows and outflows at all reservoirs and barrages in the State effectively to ensure no loss of life.
"Until the water level reaches 881 ft (against Full Reservoir Level of 885 ft) in Srisailam reservoir, we will not be able to divert maximum water through Pothireddypadu. We tapped 44,500 cusecs, which is a record. Naidu argued that we should have released the water to Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) much earlier. If we started diverting water through Pothireddypadu when the water level was at 845 ft in Srisailam, we could have taken only 1,000 cusecs per day. On one hand Naidu claims there is no water in Rayalaseema and on the other points fingers at us for diverting water to the region," he explained.
He further added that so far 46 TMC of water was diverted to Rayalaseema districts and 14 TMC more would be supplied in the next one week. "We were able to tap more water than the previous TDP regime from Srisailam, which was able to use only 38 TMC when water in the reservoir was at the same level last year," he added.
Regarding Nagarjuna Sagar, he said there was 126 TMC of water in it on August 9 when copious inflows started. "The storage capacity of NSP is 312 TMC. Naidu contended that we should have released water even before it reaches the FRL. But, water flows only when it reaches the crest gate level, which happened on August 12. Similarly, anticipating flood, we slowly discharged water from Pulichintala project. We impounded water slowly as per the Central Water Commission (CWC) norms as it is still not fully ready. We were able to store 42 TMC in Pulichintala, which is our government’s achievement. From there water was released to Prakasam Barrage," he noted.
The minister revealed that an average of 8 lakh cusecs of water per day was available at Srisailam during the floods. "At Prakasam Barrage, the flood peaked to 8.5 lakh cusecs only for six hours during the entire flooding. The remaining days it was 6-7 lakh cusecs, which is much lesser than 2009 floods where almost 11 lakh cusecs reached the barrage. Had we released all water as suggested by the TDP chief, it would have inundated the entire region," Anil Kumar said.
The minister also refuted the claims of Naidu that the government stored 4 TMC of water at Prakasam Barrage to inundate his riverfront residence. "The water level at the barrage naturally increased due to heavy inflows, which was discharged," he recalled.