Telangana govt prioritises water for drinking, irrigation as summer heat intensifies

Hyderabad: With the early onset of summer, the Telangana State government has asked irrigation and water departments to use water judiciously. The three months of summer will bring intense heat, according to the meteorological department.

‘Release water for crops’

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy instructed officials to release water to the crops from the various projects in the State, as per schedule. The irrigation authorities have been asked to take appropriate precautions by assessing the severe temperatures in advance and be vigilant for the next three months.

Conduct field visits regularly, order CM

CM Revanth Reddy directed the officials to conduct field visits regularly and act by monitoring the situation on the ground. “Take precautions so that farmers do not face any hurdles and to protect the crops from severe heat,” the CM said.

Review of water projects

A review of water levels in the projects was taken up by the government. Water levels in the projects and reservoirs and the utilisation of water sources in the major projects including Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and SRSP were recorded.

The government made it clear that drinking water and irrigation needs in summer must be met without causing any water crisis.

Row over Krishna waters

The CM instructed irrigation officials to be vigilant in utilising Krishna waters from Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar.

Referring to the alleged exploitation of water resources by the neighbouring State of Andhra Pradesh, the CM asked the officials of the irrigation department to be more alert in utilising Krishna waters 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 its share of the funds required for the installation of the telemetry system.

‘Centre responsible for stopping AP from using excess water’

The chief minister instructed Irrigation principal secretary Rahul Bojja to write a letter to the KRMB immediately informing them about all the funds required for the implementation of the telemetry system being paid by the Telangana government first and to take necessary steps for the telemetry immediately.

The CM reminded that the responsibility of allocation of water share between two states and calculating the water consumption lies with the Central Water Commission. The CM asked the officials to lodge a complaint with the Union Government against the diverting of water by Andhra Pradesh unilaterally. The CM said the government should take the responsibility of stopping Andhra Pradesh from the excess utilisation of water against the allocations.

Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said, “There will be meetings at district levels on the proper utilisation of water. Water should be prioritised for drinking and irrigation. These two are most important in the summer months.”