Krishna Water dispute: Telangana, Andhra deploy security personnel at Pulichintala project

Amid the ongoing controversy over Krishna River waters utilisation, both Andhra and Telangana police have deployed huge force at the Pulichintala project at their respective sides of the project almong the border between the states on Saturday.

The police of both states have been guarding the projects on Krishna River like Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala in the bordering areas of Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh and Nalgonda district of Telangana.

Telangana started power generation at Pulichintala and released water downwards into Andhra Pradesh, compelling Andhra to drain that water into the Bay of Bengal through Prakasam barrage at Vijayawada.

Ramesh, Superintendent Engineer of Pulichintala project said that "Pulichintala project was built to stabilise Krishna Delta ayacut of 13 lakh acres. After the reorganisation of the states, dam part is under Andhra Pradesh government and powerhouse is in control of Telangana government."

"Power generation started in 2016. Water was stored to the full level of 45 TMC in 2019 and 2020. This dam is not for power generation, but for the power to be generated for irrigation purposes. In general, SE irrigation places indent for water, and accordingly, water would be released through gates or reverse sluices. But since last year we are releasing water from power generation. There is a protocol for that," he added.

Further, he said, "When irrigation officials ask for water, SE Pulichintala will ask the Genco people to release water through the powerhouse. But on June 29, TS Genco authorities started power generation. In fact, Agriculture works had not started in the Krishna Delta by then."

"Further, Krishna (Prakasam) Barrage is full of 3 TMC water. So if water is released now, it would be drained into the sea. So, we informed the Telangana authorities of the matter and informed them that power should be generated only when there is an irrigation need. We requested them not to generate power right now, to which they said they will inform their management," Ramesh informed.

In accordance with the Telangana State Cabinet decision, power generation will continue at Jurala, Pulichintala, Srisailam, and Nagarjuna Sagar. Telangana also declared that KRMB has no right to stop power generation given the fact there are no agreements between the two states on hydel power generation.

"Telangana rejected the misinformation campaign launched by the Andhra Pradesh that it is releasing water to the sea after generating power at Pulichintala. The meeting suggested to the AP government to utilise the water released from Pulichintala after the power generation through Prakasam Barrage to fulfill the needs of the Krishna district. This would reduce the cost of power bills for lifting Godavari water from Pattiseema," the CMO said.

According to the CMO, the Telangana government is utilising every opportunity lawfully to fulfill its needs to lift water for irrigation, to supply drinking water to Hyderabad and for drinking water purposes through Mission Bhagiratha Scheme. The Hydel power being generated is well within the law.

( With inputs from ANI )