Congress MP and TPCC working president A. Revanth Reddy said that Telangana hydel power projects at Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar and Pulichintala would be severely affected if the A.P. government goes ahead with withdrawal of additional water from Pothireddypadu and wanted Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to realise the severity of the issue.
At a press conference here, he said 1,404 MW of power is being produced through these three projects at a nominal average rate of 25 paise per unit. If the Andhra Pradesh government utilises its 512 TMC of water from Krishna river through Pothireddypadu and other upstream projects Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar and Pulichintala will go dry and the hydel power will be stopped.
Presently, the government purchases power from private players at a cost of ₹ 4 to ₹18 per unit and imagine if 1,404 MW power is lost and the same had to bought from private players, he argued.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Everyone is worried about the water loss, but Telangana will also lose its power projects,” he claimed.
Unlike during bifurcation of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand where power projects went to the States where they were located, Mr. Reddy said Sonia Gandhi did a great favour awarding power production to Telangana based on its usage.
Telangana got a power share of 53.09% and Andhra Pradesh 46.11% from the existing projects as Sonia Gandhi was convinced by late Jaipal Reddy in awarding power production based on usage of each State. Or else Telangana would have faced problems from day one as claimed by the then Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.
ADVERTISEMENT
But now that is being compromised by the present government to favour private power projects, he alleged.
“Instead of abusing the Opposition parties, KCR should explain whether this is true or not,” he said.
He also argued that Andhra Pradesh cannot use its 512 TMC share of water from upstream only but from Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar right canal and after water passing from Pulichintala.
Mr. Revanth Reddy alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was silent on Pothireddypadu with an eye on GHMC elections to garner the votes of people of Andhra and Rayalaseema origin.