AP-Telangana State police clash over Krishna water

The police force of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh came to blows on Friday at the Crest gates of the Nagarjunasagar reservoir on the issue of blockage of water to the right branch canal by the Telangana irrigation department on Wednesday.

Clash occurred between both police forces when the Irrigation officials of AP along with their police came to the venue at Nagarjunasagar to lift the crest gates which was objected and stalled by the Telangana irrigation and police officials.

The Krishna river water row between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana took a serious turn on Friday, as the stalemate continued on release of river water to save the standing crops in Guntur district. With the irrigation and revenue authorities from Andhra Pradesh trying to open the gates to release water to the right canal which was thwarted by their counter parts from Telangana.

The Telangana officers have refused to hand over the keys to open the gates saying that they need orders from their government. AP authorities are demanding release of 6000 cusecs of water immediately to save Rabi crops in the Delta region.

The Telangana government has shut down the crest gates of the Nagarjunasagar dam right branch canal since Wednesday evening, stopping water to fields of over 10 lakh acres in downstream Andhra districts of Krishna and Guntur denying water for their Rabi crop. The Nagarjunasagar project which connects Guntur district of AP to the Nalgonda district of Telangana is currently under heavy police bandobast.

However Telangana irrigation officials said that the AP government has been using 2000 cusecs for thermal power generation in order to release that quantity to the right canal. “This will lead to the dead storage of 510 feet and the current level is only 532 feet. This is detrimental to both the states,” an AP officer told the media.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao said on Friday that AP has already used 43 tmc over and above its eligibility of 322.61 tmc while Telangana has used only 140.40 tmc out of allocated 229 tmc. “How can AP stake claim to all the water in the Nagarjuna sagar dam without considering the needs of Telangana,” Harish asked.

Rao said AP wanted another 40 TMC to save its crops while the storage in the reservoir was just 63 TMC. 'If AP takes away 40 TMC what can we do for our lands (2 lakh acres in Nalgonda Dist)," he quipped.

Even the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has washed its hands and refused to intervene in the matter. The AP government move for physical possession of the gates in a project located in between both Telangana and AP led to the current clash.

Nearly hundreds of police men of both states gathered on both the sides of the reservoir and along with irrigation and revenue officials of their region were trying to resolve the issue in their own way. In fact AP has been demanding rights for management of 13 gates of the project which fall in the geographical area of AP.

AP’s principal secretary for irrigation B. Adityanath Das says there was no official communication about stoppage of water and Telangana government cannot do so unilaterally as it will hit the standing crops of AP farmers. This is the third time since June last that the water sharing in Krishna River has kicked up non-stop row between farmers of Telangana and AP.

In a fresh move the AP govt once again approached the KRMB for release of 7000 queces (15 tmc) of water immediately for saving the crops in the Delta.