Power generation cut down in Srisailam; stepped up in Sagar

October 24, 2014 11:58 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 03:49 am IST - HYDERABAD - NALGONDA:

Villagers in flooded areas being ferried across back water of Pulichinthla in a boat at Adlur village due to the irrigation authorities’ decision to impound 10.3 tmcft water in the project in Nalgonda on Friday. Photo: Singam Venkataramana

Villagers in flooded areas being ferried across back water of Pulichinthla in a boat at Adlur village due to the irrigation authorities’ decision to impound 10.3 tmcft water in the project in Nalgonda on Friday. Photo: Singam Venkataramana

In two separate developments on Friday, the Telangana government has halted power generation from the Srisailam Left Bank hydro power house, and stepped up the same at its Nagarjunasagar power station.

Power generation from Srisailam stood at 2.736 million units during the 24 hours before 6 a.m. on Friday, and 6,230 cusecs of water was released downstream. However, 13,420 cusecs more was released between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday, before the generation was stopped by evening, sources informed.

Earlier, 40,000-odd cusecs of water were released per day from Srisailam. Sources attributed the sudden drop to the availability of 700 MW of unrequisitioned power in the grid due to reduced consumption by Tamil Nadu.

In another development, production from the Nagarajunasagar hydro-electric power house was stepped up, resulting in generation of close to 15 million units of power on Friday. About 24,000 cusecs of water was released from the power house when reports last came in. However, CMD of TSGENCO D. Prabhakara Rao was not available for his comment.

Superintendent Engineer of Pulichintala Irrigation Project S. Chandrasekhar Rao said he had written a letter to his Nagarjunasagar counterpart asking him to restrict the release of water downstream to avoid submergence of more villages in Nalgonda district.

Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Rao said that the irrigation authorities from Nagarjunasagar have been releasing about 30,000 cusecs of water per day, forcing impounding of more water in Pulichintala.

He further said four villages had already been submerged or became inaccessible because water storage was increased to 10.3 tmcft by Friday. Any increase further would affect more villages in the coming days, he warned.

It is learnt that the Chief Engineers of both the projects had a telephonic conversation on the same issue which is yet to be resolved.

Meanwhile, MP, Nalgonda, Gutha Sukhendar Reddy wrote a letter to Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao requesting him to limit the water release from Nagarjunasagar and store the same for rabi crop season in Khammam and Nalgonda districts.

Reminding that both Nalgonda and Hyderabad city depend on Nagarjunasagar for drinking water supply, he appealed to the State government to hold discussions with Andhra Pradesh government to get its due share of power, so that power generation at Nagarjunasagar can be stopped.

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