HYDERABAD: In a midnight operation hours before Telangana went to the polls on Thursday, the Andhra Pradesh government took control of half of Nagarjuna Sagar Dam on the Krishna river and released water to its side. The two states have sparred over the dam since 2014 when Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh (AP).
Telangana’s K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS government has complained to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) against the move by AP’s YSRCP regime to occupy and barricade part of the dam. KRMB allocates water to both states.
About 400 cops from AP police along with state irrigation officials barged into the dam around 1am on Thursday, stunning the poll-primed Telangana police and taking control of half its 36 gates.
When Telangana officials and some cops from Nalgonda arrived at the dam, an argument with AP officials ensued. But when AP officials insisted that they were discharging duties on the directions of their government, the Telangana officials returned.
AP officials were also not allegedly allowing vehicles from Telangana unless they showed Aadhaar cards with state addresses.
Telangana officials said a similar attempt was made by AP three years ago but it was thwarted.
“Our information is that the AP government is releasing 10,000 cusecs of water. They have provided separate power lines for regulator gates. This means AP has been planning this for the past few weeks. They even damaged CCTV cameras as well as an automated entry gate at the dam,” said a senior official of CM KCR’s office.
Telangana’s K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS government has complained to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) against the move by AP’s YSRCP regime to occupy and barricade part of the dam. KRMB allocates water to both states.
About 400 cops from AP police along with state irrigation officials barged into the dam around 1am on Thursday, stunning the poll-primed Telangana police and taking control of half its 36 gates.
When Telangana officials and some cops from Nalgonda arrived at the dam, an argument with AP officials ensued. But when AP officials insisted that they were discharging duties on the directions of their government, the Telangana officials returned.
AP officials were also not allegedly allowing vehicles from Telangana unless they showed Aadhaar cards with state addresses.
Telangana officials said a similar attempt was made by AP three years ago but it was thwarted.
“Our information is that the AP government is releasing 10,000 cusecs of water. They have provided separate power lines for regulator gates. This means AP has been planning this for the past few weeks. They even damaged CCTV cameras as well as an automated entry gate at the dam,” said a senior official of CM KCR’s office.