AP: PIL seeks stoppage of water release to Krishna delta

Hyderabad: A public interest petition has been filed in the High Court with a request for direction to the state government not to release water from the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir to the Krishna delta if the the minimum draw down level (MDDL) at the dam falls below 525 feet. The government has decided to release 15 tmcft of water from the reservoir to save crops in the delta area. Despite protests from the TRS, CPI and CPI-ML (ND), irrigation officials have been releasing Krishna water on a daily basis from the first week of July.

Retired APSEB chief engineer V Venkata Reddy and 10 others from Hyderabad and Nalgonda districts urged the court to issue interim directions for stoppage of release of water from the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir. They alleged that the government’s decision was wholly violative of the rights of the people of Nalgonda and the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad with regard to drinking water requirement.

Bowing to the demand made by the delta ayacutdars and their public representatives the government decided to release 15 tmcft of water to the Prakasam barrage at Vijayawada. As part of it, about half tmcft of water has been being released on a daily basis since July 3.

The plea to the state government is not to release water from the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir to the Krishna delta.

Any release of water would directly affect the rights of left canal ayacutdars, the petitioners said and requested the Court to declare the government’s decision as illegal, unconstitutional and discriminatory. They submitted that though the Nagarjuna Sagar left bank canal (covering Nalgonda, Khammam and Krishna districts) and right canal (Guntur and Prakasam) were meant to provide water for irrigation, water can be released into the right canal only when the reservoir level was above 502 feet. Water can be released into the left canal only when the reservoir level is above 520 feet.

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