Sharing of Krishna waters became a contentious issue for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana yet again on Monday when the irrigation officials/engineers from the two sides had heated exchanges at the Nagarajuna Sagar Project Right Canal Head Regulator as the mercury soared in the day.
The problem cropped up around noon when the water release to the NSP Right Canal was stopped by the irrigation authorities of Telangana, who supervise the releases at the dam site, as the release of water allocated to A.P. by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) was completed.
Several Executive Engineers, Deputy Executive Engineers, Work Inspectors and other staff from AP (from the Macherla division) rushed to the Right Canal Head Regulator site and allegedly had arguments with the Telangana staff there.
Official sources stated that the A.P. engineers had contended that one more tmcft of water allocated by the KRMB was yet to be released even as their Telangana counterparts explained how the water allocated was released in full already.
As the situation deteriorated, police from the two States reached either side of the dam. However, Chief Engineer of NSP S. Suneel saved the situation by explaining about the water release.
“The A.P. engineers tried to intimidate Telangana employees at the Right Canal Head Regulator and even threatened registering cases forgetting that they (TS staff) were only implementing the KRMB orders. We too cautioned them (A.P. engineers) about lodging police complaint against them ,” an engineer said.
