Now, KCR Wants Control Over Entire Srisailam Dam!

Having failed to stop Jagan government in Andhra Pradesh from going ahead with tenders on expansion of Pothireddypadu head regulator capacity and construction of Rayalaseema lift irrigation project on Krishna river in the backwaters of Srisailam reservoir, Telangana CM KCR came up with a new demand.

KCR now wants complete control over Srisailam reservoir with powers to operate and control the dam and regulation of water releases, in order to prevent the Jagan government from drawing excess water from the reservoir through new projects.

He wrote a letter to Union water resources minister Gajendra Shekawat to this effect on Friday night ahead of the apex council meeting convened by the centre with both the Telugu states on October 6 to resolve the river water disputes.

The Telangna chief minister pointed out that as per the working arrangements made earlier, the responsibility to operate the Nagarjunasagar Project was given to Telangana and Srisailam Project to Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh has taken advantage of this arrangement to illegally draw huge quantities of water from Pothireddypadu, thanks to the failure of the Krishna river management board (KRMB) which has to oversee the water releases from the reservoir, he alleged.

“In the circumstances we request that the operation and control of Srisailam Project should also be given to Telangana so as to stop Andhra Pradesh from going ahead with its plans of expanding capacity of its projects on the river,” KCR demanded.

He pointed out that if Andhra Pradesh is allowed to go ahead with their nefarious and illegitimate expansion plans now, there will be no water available to meet the requirements of existing projects in Telangana including the drinking water needs of the capital city Hyderabad.