Hyderabad: Keeping the incoming summer months in mind, Telangana chief minister on Monday, February 17, instructed officials to release water for crops in Telangana as per the plan from various projects in the state. Irrigation authorities have been asked to take appropriate steps by assessing severe hot conditions in advance and also to be vigilant for the next 3 months.
In a meeting with Telangana irrigation minister Uttam Kumar Reddy and Irrigation department officials, Revanth Reddy said that officials should conduct field visits regularly and take action by monitoring the situation at the field level. He directed them to ensure that all necessary precautions should be taken so that farmers do not face any hurdles and to protect the crops in the heat.
The Telangana chief minister asked officials to utilize available water in the projects judiciously to meet drinking water and irrigation needs without any water crisis in summer. He emphasized that next three months are “very crucial” and that water demand for irrigation, drinking water and electricity will increase significantly in all parts of the state.
According to a press release from his office, the Telangana chief minister also instructed all district collectors to take special initiatives to provide drinking water and irrigation water to the people without any hurdles. District officials in Telangana have been asked to hold meetings immediately and prepare action plans district wise for water management.
Similarly, all district collectors will also hold reviews with Irrigation department engineers on the ayacut, crops and water release under the Nagarjuna Sagar and SRSP projects, said the release. The Telangana chief minister suggested that collectors should visit the projects, canals, crops in ayacut and review the release of water as well. He ordered chief secretary Santhi kumari to finalize agenda and hold a teleconference with the collectors and issue appropriate orders.
The CM instructed irrigation officials to be vigilant in utilizing Krishna water from Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar.
‘AP not paying its share of funds for water sharing’
Referring to “exploitation of water resources by the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh”, the Telangana chief minister asked officials of the Irrigation department to be more alert in utilising river Krishna water from Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar projects. “The CM asserted that the telemetry system is the only solution to prevent AP from utilising water excess than the prescribed quota. The officials brought to the attention of the CM that the AP government is not coming forward to pay their share of funds required for the installation of the telemetry system,” added the release.
The chief minister instructed Irrigation Principal Secretary Rahul Bojja to write a letter to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) immediately informing all the funds required for the implementation of the telemetry system are being paid by Telangana government first and to take necessary steps for the telemetry immediately.
The Telangana CM said that the responsibility of allocation of water sharing between two states and calculating the consumption of water shares lies with the Central Water Commission. He also asked officials to lodge a complaint with the Union Government against the shifting of water by Andhra Pradesh unilaterally. The CM said that the Central Government should take the responsibility of stopping Andhra Pradesh from the excess utilization of water against the allocations
