The Andhra Pradesh government has agreed to reduce the impounding of water at Pulichintala project from 11 tmcft to 7.5 tmcft to avoid submergence of four villages in Nalgonda district.
The villages faced the threat of submergence as the water storage in the project touched 11 tmcft which was planned for this year. Three of these villages – Adloor, Nemalipuri and Reballe – had lost road connectivity due to increased inflows into the reservoir from Nagarjunasagar in the last couple of days. The people of Adloor used boats to cross the Krishna.
In view of the emergency, the Chief Secretaries of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana I.Y.R. Krishna Rao and Rajiv Sharma respectively and Principal Irrigation Secretaries of both States met today and decided to restrict the storage of water at the project, pending completion of rehabilitation and resettlement (R & R) package.
Having paid Rs. 10 crore for R & R works in the four villages, the Andhra Pradesh government agreed to release another instalment of Rs. 20 crore to the habitations, official sources said. The project is coming up with a total storage capacity of 44.75 tmcft but the level was proposed to be limited to only 11 tmcft this year. At 44.75 tmcft, 13 villages in Nalgonda and 15 in Guntur faced the threat of submergence. The total R & R package for the project was worth Rs. 127 crore. The project was receiving 90,000 cusecs from Nagarjunasagar ever since it was getting filled up in the last four days and the same was released downstream by nine crest gates.
