AP, TS settle Pulichintala water row amicably HYDERABAD: The Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments on Thursday settled the row over submergence of five villages in Nalgonda district following impounding of water at the Pulichintala balancing reservoir.
When water was released from the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir recently, AP found a money spinner in the gushing water and impounded it at the Pulichintala dam in Guntur district so as to use the same whenever Krishna Delta needed it.
But in their eagerness to impound more water, the authorities let the reservoir have 11 tmcft of water, unaware that this would flood five villages in Nalgonda district in Telangana State. Consequently, not only were the villages flooded but road connectivity was also cut off.
As the people in the five villages cried foul, the Telangana government wrote to the Andhra Pradesh chief secretary explaining the ground reality and demanding that water be released from the Pulichintala reservoir.
Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao requested the principal secretary (irrigation) of Andhra Pradesh to release more water from Pulichintala and ensure release of funds for the villagers' rehabilitation.
The Telangana and Andhra Pradesh chief secretaries met on Thursday and sorted out the issue. Both sides agreed that once the compensation amount for rehabilitation of the villagers was made to the Nalgonda district collector, water at Pulichintala could be stored up to 44 metres (11 tmcft).
The collector, as per the agreement, would evacuate the villagers within a week after the funds are released. The AP government has released Rs 20 crore on September 17 in addition to the Rs 9.5 crore already given to the collector and which hasn't been spent yet.
In a late night press release, the AP government recalled that authorities in Nalgonda were informed of the possible impounding of water at Pulichintala in July itself.
According to the Andhra officials, when water was released from Nagarjuna Sagar, the Nalgonda collector had asked the Pulichintala authorities to impound water only up to 40 metres so as to avoid flooding of the villages and also reminded them that AP hadn't yet paid the compensation amount for the villages ' which would be submerged if Pulichintala becomes fully operational.
The collector had sought Rs 40 crore towards balance payment (of the total rehabilitation amount) as well as Rs 20 crore for works in R&R colonies. In view of the fact that the total compensation wasn't paid, AP limited water storage at Pulichintala to 40 metres.
News Posted: 19 September, 2014
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