Former minister and senior BRS party leader Harish Rao today criticised the State government for doing nothing even when Andhra Pradesh government was trying to undermine the water interests of Telangana.
He asked Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and State Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy as to what they were doing when AP was diverting the Krishna waters without any hindrance. “When AP has been diverting 10,000 cusecs of water per day from Nagarjuna Sagar right canal for the last three months, why the Congress government remained silent,” Harish Rao questioned and wondered as to why it was keeping its mouth shut even after 646 TMC of water was diverted from the river in the water year itself.
“Does the Congress not care about the interests of Telangana in the river waters? The Sagar dam is under the control of the Central forces. Though the water has to be released only under their supervision, the AP State was diverting it arbitrarily,” he alleged. He also alleged that the State government did not have any concern even after observing that the AP was taking the quota of the water to be stored in Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar reservoirs for Telangana’s drinking water needs.
Harish Rao criticized AP for being stubborn in diverting the water through Potireddipadu and Nagarjuna Sagar right canal even though there is no surplus stock in the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs.
“Every year, a meeting of the three-man committee under the KRMB will have to be held for the use of water for joint projects. But this year, the three-man committee has not met so far. This means one can understand how bad the board’s affair is,” he said.
He criticized the Congress government for failing miserably in putting pressure on the board and prevent AP from diverting the water thereby protecting Telangana’s water rights. Harish Rao said the Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam reservoirs had already become empty due to the aggressiveness of AP and the negligence of the Telangana government.
On the other hand, Harish Rao said although summer season has not started completely, the farmers of Telangana were staging dharnas on the roads for water. He said if AP State does not stop the diversion of the water now, Nagarjuna Sagar ayacut would be in danger.
He warned that if the water level in the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir falls, there will be a drinking water problem in Hyderabad city. He demanded that the State government immediately respond and stop the exploitation of the water by the AP government and put pressure on the Krishna Board in this regard.