The government decision to release water from Singur to Sriramsagar has been snowballing into a controversy with public as well as leaders from different political parties opposing it.
Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao announced release of 14 tmcft water to Sriramsagar through Ghanapur and Nizamsagar to meet the requirement of drinking water and irrigation water under the project. Similarly, one tmcft water will be released from Manjeera. The release of water was already commenced from Singur.
Due to heavy rains in the catchment area the water level at Singur has reached to the peak and till Thursday the water level was 29.5 tmcft.
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Drinking water
“Both these projects were aimed at meeting the drinking water requirements of Hyderabad and combined Medak district in addition to irrigation requirement. Earlier, the government used to release water to Nizamsagar depending on the requirement of three to four tmcft. Presently the water was full as there were heavy rains in the catchment area of the project in Maharashtra. What will be the fate of Sangareddy district if the water was released to Sriramsagar project?” asked former whip and Congress leader T. Jayaprakash Reddy. He also wanted to know why the water is being released to Sriramsagar even when there was about 54 tmcft water.
Mr. Jayaprakash Reddy said that there will be only 14 tmcft water will remain once the water was released to Sriramsagar.
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“Out of this, seven tmcft will be dead storage and we would be able to use only eight tmcft for our requirements of which four tmcft has to be released to Ghanapur. We need two tmcft of water for Singur and four tmcft water for other parts of the district. How is the government going to meet that?” he asked.
He also wanted to know what will be the fate of farmers if there were no rains in the next season.
The CPI (M) too is opposed to the decision. It has organised a round table with public organisations. “The district is going to dry up if the water was diverted. Why are the public representatives from the district silent?” asked Jayaraj of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).
As part of agitation against the government decision, protests will be organised in the district followed by a seige of the Collectorate on Monday.
Mr. Jayaprakash Reddy has also been planning similar programme on Monday.