Telugu States spar over use of Nagarjunasagar water

​Nalgonda: With water level in the Nagarjunasagar touching 514 feet mark as against Full Reservoir Level of 590, both the Telugu States have been fighting for securing water for both irrigation and for meeting the drinking needs.

Keeping in view the Rabi requirements and ensuing summer, they have been lodging complaints against each other of overuse of water to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).

A look into water row by The Hans India reveals that as per the High Court at Hyderabad, water should be drawn only for drinking purpose if the water level is below 510 feet.

At present, it has only eight tmcft of water that can be drawn for irrigation. It means, the two States get four tmcft of water. However, the demands put forth by them require 30 tmcft, while the entire Krishna Basin has about 40 tmcft.

The acute need for water has risen due to heavy paddy cultivation taken up by two States, instead of dry crops as suggested, under the right and left canals.

The left canal accounts for 2.5 lakh acres of paddy, for which the board has so far allocated 35 tmcft (to meet needs of both dry crops and paddy) and released 19 tmcft. Ten tmcft from the right canal has already been released, while 16 tmcft is pending under the left canal.

Five tmcft is to be made available for drinking purposes under the Krishna Delta. Besides this, the State has sought 12 tmcft more from the board.

Although there are demands from both States, no sufficient water is available in Nagarjunasagar. After the bifurcation of AP in 2014, water was released from the left canal for the Kharif, but not for Rabi.

Next year, water was not released for Kharif, but made available for Rabi. In the third year, water was released only for dry crops. Now water is being released for this Rabi. A similar situation prevails in Andhra Pradesh too.

In united AP, water was released for crops in 23 lakh acres to fulfill the hopes of farmers. But the situation now is such that only the needs of Kharif and dry crops are being met. The irrigation needs of the States are not being met due to wastage by the farmers.

According to Ramesh, Superintending Engineer of Nagarjunasagar Dam the present level in the reservoir is 140 tmcft of which only 132 tmcft is for use. The present level is not sufficient to meet the demands of the States. If the demands are to be met, the Srisailam water has to be tapped.

Miryalaguda MLA N Bhaskar Rao maintained that efforts have been made to secure water to protect the interests of Telangana farmers.

He said farmers left canal have taken up paddy cultivation despite them being urged to take up dry crops. Rao was firm that water allotted by the Board would be released in a phased manner to the left canal and farmers’ crops would be saved.

Banda Srisailam, Nalgonda Rythu Sangham general secretary said TRS government was not giving due importance to the problems of Sagar ayacut farmers.

“During the last three years, the Sagar left canal ayacut area has become dry due to government’s lack of awareness on water,” he added.

By: B Ashok