Major Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao on Saturday requested his counterpart in Telangana State T. Harish Rao to suspend power generation at Srisailam project to meet drinking water requirements of the both States.
Mr. Rao said the TS Minister was yet to respond. Drinking water would be a problem in next couple of months if power generation continued at Srisailam project and water in the reservoir was not managed properly.
Staff Reporter from Hyderabad adds:
However, Mr. Harish Rao categorically denied any request from A.P., and said there was no question of stalling power generation from Left Bank, in view of the hardships faced by Telangana farmers. “A.P. government is aiming to store water for second crop, while our first crop itself lacks water,” he said. However, the Telangana government would consider the request if A.P. agrees to supply 350 MW of power in lieu of the generation forgone, he said.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu reportedly directed the authorities to stop generation at the Right Bank power station, in view of the drinking water requirements of Rayalaseema region. This order came after an MP from Rayalaseema had registered his protest over the unrestrained power generation on both sides.
Power generation at the Srisailam hydroelectric power station has become the latest bone of contention between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, already tangled in various issues of power sharing.
