Farmers Movement Archive

Krishna water projects in State stare at a bleak future

Uncertainty looms large over drinking water supply to several cities, including Chennai, in view of the depletion of water from the major reservoirs across river Krishna, including Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar and Pulichintala, owing to power generation by Telangana early in the water year. A slew of projects planned by the upper riparian State to draw about 200 tmcft of water all along the Krishna river course even when the level is 800 ft at Srisailam has put the existing ayacut in the Krishna basin in Andhra Pradesh in jeopardy. Water replenishment to major reservoirs Somasila and Kandaleru, which are presently fed by Pothireddypadu head regulator by gravity only when the level is above 854 ft, will also be a question mark in the present situation. The State will be left with no option but to draw maximum flood water by arranging lifts to draw 8 tmcft of water during floods, according to irrigation experts. For the first time, the two reservoirs in the Penna basin received of over 135 tmcft of water last year, thanks to floods in river Krishna in several spells over a period of two months enabling the authorities to meet the irrigation needs of farmers and cater to the drinking water needs of Nellore, Kavali, Venkatagiri, Tirupati and Srikalahasti without any difficulty, according to Telugu Ganga Chief Engineer K. Harinarayana Reddy. Chennai, which was entitled to 12 tmcft of water under the Telugu Ganga project, was able to realise over 8 tmcft of water, the highest quantum in two and half decades. Power generation by the upper riparian State at this juncture would be at the cost of farmers in the Krishna delta region as also Nagarjunasagar Right Bank canal ayacut, who were entitled to first use of Krishna water, opined farmer leader Ch. Ranga Rao. Farmers coming under the already exiting projects had a riparian right when compared to the counterparts coming under new projects, he added. Even in a year when Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar attains the full level, the farmers in Prakasam district, being in the tail-end, do not receive 60 tmcft of water, the full quota of Krishna water to the district. In the present situation, they would not be able to get even half of that quantity, he explained. “The Veligonda project being constructed to draw flood waters from the foreshore of Srisailam would remain in disuse if the projects planned in the upper reaches are not stopped,” said All India Kisan Sabha Prakasam district Secretary Vadde Hanuma Reddy.

The Hindu

2021-07-10

NELLORE,ANDHRA PRADESH