Telangana and AP In Dispute About Water From Nagarjuna Sagar Dam

An age-old dispute now sees the newly formed states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on opposite sides of a tussle on water. The matter is one of water from Nagarjuna Sagar being taken without prior sanction, and out of the existing agreement, by Telangana State. Now that the dam has reached its capacity, it appears that a rift has once again resurfaced about who is entitled to how much water, and how much in excess either side is siphoning off for its own needs at the cost of the other side.

In days gone by, it was Telangana as a series of districts that blamed the districts of the eastern Andhra belt with moving too much water for their own benefit, leaving the area that is now Telangana bereft of the essential resource. Now, it appears it is the turn of the Andhra Pradesh government to blame the Telangana government of “water theft” and taking more than its agreed share. The present dispute finds the Irrigation Department of Andhra Pradesh has said that Telangana is drawing an indeterminate amount of water from the Nagarjuna Flood Flow Canal (NSP FFC).

Although the Central Water Commission shows that Telangana is drawing only 400 cusecs of water, well within the purview of the agreement, engineers from Andhra Pradesh claim that the actual amount is far greater. According to them, the only way to arrive at an honest figure of actual usage is to repair the telemeters that track water flow at the NSP FFC.