Rayalaseema Irrigation Projects are being discriminated against when it comes to sharing water among the three regions of the State, alleged Rayalaseema Saguneeti Sadhana Samithi (RSSS) president Bojja Dasaratha Rami Reddy.
On Thursday, the RSSS president shot off a letter to Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) chairman J. Chandrashekhar Iyer alleging that the bias against Rayalaseema had become apparent at a KRMB meeting held on April 21 to decide on allocation of water.
At the meeting, it was agreed upon that Rayalaseema projects fully utilised their allotted water, except a meagre 1 tmc ft allotment to the Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanthi (HNSS), considering the water pumped in during floods. About 50 tmcft of water can be drawn by Telangana projects from Nagarjunasagar up to August 2020 against unutilised allotted water during 2019-20. It also allowed water level depletion from 814 ft at Srisailam Reservoir to 807 ft as against the Minimum Drawdown Level (MDDL) of 854 ft and maintain Nagarjunasagar MDDL level intact at 510 ft. These resolutions and water reserves in Somasila have taken care of the other two regions by excluding the third region of Rayalaseema, Mr. Dasaratha Rami Reddy said.
The letter states that the KRMB decision has forced the Rayalaseema region to anxiously wait for the next floods which were uncertain and erratic. The short-sighted move of allowing water withdrawal up to 807 ft at Srisailam was likely to result in a ‘national tragedy’ if a drought year is witnessed during the water year of 2020-2021, he alleged.
This apprehension was not without historic precedent, he said. In the water year 2015-16, the total amount of water arrivals to Srisailam reservoir stood at a mere 74 tmcft. “If the water flow during the next water year is anywhere close to this, then there is going to be a huge crisis as the entire population depends on Srisailam reservoir. The injustice done so far to Rayalaseema region can at least be rectified in the next meeting by implementing the KWDT awards,” he said.