Hyderabad: Congress knocks on KRMB door over PRP

Hyderabad: The Congress on Thursday made it clear that if Andhra Pradesh goes ahead with its plan to upgrade Pothireddypady project, the interests of lakhs of farmers of southern Telangana would be adversely affected.

It approached th e Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) opposing the plans of the Andhra Pradesh government to utlise additional 3 TMC water from Srisailam by upgrading Pothyreddypadu Head Regulators.

"If the plan of AP government to draw an additional 3 TMC per day, in addition to the present drawing of Krishna water from the foreshore of Srisailam reservoir, is executed, then lakhs of farmers in southern Telangana would be affected adversely. Besides agriculture, it may also be pertinent to mention that Krishna river water is utilized for drinking water to Hyderabad," the delegation of the party leaders headed by TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy told KRMB Chairman Chandrashekhar Iyer.

TPCC working presdient and Malkjagiri MP A Revanth Reddy, MLA Jagga Reddy, AICC serectaries A Sampath Kumar, Vamshi Chand Reddy, and G Chinna Reddy, former Minister Nagam Janardhan Reddy, TPCC treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy, ex-MPs Konda Vishveshwar Reddy and Mallu Ravi, ex-MLA Rammohan Reddy and other leaders were part of the delegation.

Speaking to media persons after submitting the representation, Uttam said that AP's decision was against the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 and the KRMB has the authority to direct the AP to stop upgrading works at Pothyreddypadu Head Regulators. He pointed out that Congress leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy had raised objection and also wrote a letter to Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao on January 4 of this year about the AP's plans to raise the capacity of PRP. But Telangana government did not respond.

Uttam said that Chandrasekhara Rao did not raise the issue although both the Chief Ministers had two meetings during that period. He said agricultural activities would be badly affected in Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda districts and there would be huge shortage of drinking water in Hyderabad. It might even lead to drying up of Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. The TPCC Chief said that the Board has been urged to keep a watch on the utlisation of water by installing tele-meters. He also demanded deployment of CISF forces to prevent theft of Krishna River water. KRMB Chairman Chandrashekhar Iyer assured to take action after going through the details.

Later in the day, Uttam spoke on telephone with Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat over the issue. He explained AP's attempts to increase drawal capacity of Krishna water from Pothyreddypadu regulator to 80,000 cusecs.