Officials of the Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Department were in for a shock when they found that their counterparts in Telangana had built a cross-bund across the NSP 21st Main Branch Canal, an extension of the NSP Left Main Canal.
The construction of the cross-bund has triggered a fresh controversy between the two States. The Telangana engineers have said that the cross-bund would be removed, but no action was taken till late on Thursday. The NSP Left Canal that has three irrigation zones travels through Telangana for nearly 100 km and has an ayacut of 3.63 lakh acres in Krishna district (Zone 2-1,52,118 and Zone 3- 2,10,846), according to NSP Chief Engineer L Veera Raju. The KRMB approved the release of 2.5 tmcft for Zone 3 last month, but not a single drop reached the State till date. When the A.P. engineers investigated why the water was not reaching the State, they found the cross-bund. Mr. Veera Raju told The Hindu that the Telangana Irrigation department engineers said they would remove the cross-bund built at kilometre 104 on the 21st Main Branch Canal of the NSP Left Canal.