Stop Andhra from drawing Pothireddypadu water: Telangana to Krishna River Board

Andhra Pradesh has been regularly drawing excessive amounts of water in complete violation of agreement, says Telangana irrigation special chief secretary Rajat Kumar.
Pothireddypadu Head Regulator
Pothireddypadu Head Regulator

HYDERABAD: Telangana officials on Saturday asked the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to direct the Andhra Pradesh government to immediately stop drawal of water from Pothireddypadu (PRP) head regulator so that committed utilisation at Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) will not be affected. In a letter to KRMB Chairman, Telangana Irrigation Special Chief Secretary Rajat Kumar said there was an urgent and immediate need to stop illegitimate drawal of waters through PRP.

“Andhra Pradesh is entitled only to draw 15 tmcft for Chennai water supply scheme and 19 tmcft for SRBC through Pothireddypadu from July to October. However, Andhra Pradesh has been regularly drawing excessive amounts of water in complete violation of sections. The Andhra Pradesh state government drew 179 tmcft and 129 tmcft in the last two years itself. As per our information, AP has already drawn about 25 tmcft as on August 7, 2021, against their entitlement of 10.48 tmcft,” Rajat Kumar informed the KRMB.

To continue to draw water illegally, AP has requested KRMB to direct Telangana to stop hydel power production at Srisailam. It is informed that the Srisailam is primarily a hydroelectric project meant for generating hydel during the course of release of waters to the NSP, Rajat Kumar said.

“Due to its typical terrain, agriculture in Telangana is dependent on the operation of nearly 30 to 35 lakh borewells in the State and lifting of river water to fill the various reservoirs constructed by the State.

Since, the Kharif operations are now in full swing there is an urgent need for us to produce our full capacity of hydel power, Rajat Kumar said.

In the process of power generation at Srisailam, water is released to Nagarjuna Sagar, which was designed with a capacity of 405 tmcft to cater to irrigation, industrial, drinking water needs of both AP and TS.

As per Bachawat Award, 280 tmc-ft has to be released from Srisailam for storage at Nagarjuna Sagar, to meet the needs of both States. In addition, a quantity of 16.5 tmcft is taken from the NSP to meet the drinking water of Hyderabad. In order to meet these important requirements, it is essential to release the full allocation of water to NSP during monsoon,” Rajat Kumar told the KRMB Chairman.

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