Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Regional overtones to Krishna basin debate

By Our Special Correspondent

Hyderabad Sept. 27. There was a wordy duel in the Assembly on Saturday as to who have been the real losers under Krishna basin — Rayalaseema or Telangana? Members left Coastal Andhra out of the debate, considering the "foregone conclusion" that this region continued to be a perennial beneficiary of the basin.

Byreddy Rajasekhara Reddy of the Telugu Desam, while participating in the debate on basin problems, painted his Rayalaseema as the chief loser, and not Telangana as projected assertively by K. Chandrasekhara Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, who spoke earlier. Mr. Reddy argued that there were not many projects in his region connected to the Krishna river in the first place and if they existed, they were only for a "tiny utilisation." All these projects, including Srisailam Right Bank Canal and Telugu Ganga were based on the Srisailam project but they suffered every year for want of water because, the sill-level for making drawals for them from the dam was fixed at 854 ft. The storage rarely touched this point, and more so during a lean year like this year, Mr. Rajasekhara Reddy said.

The TD member amused the House, describing the "854" as the Rayalaseema "pulse rate" based on which the region would survive or die and the pulse rate, as this year, was too low. The maximum point touched this year was 836 ft so far. He suggested a big lift scheme at the Pothireddypadu regulator for pumping out Srisailam waters for Rayalaseema region on the lines of the Puttamgandi lift executed for Srisailam Left Bank Canal benefiting Telangana and said this was the "only wayout" to sustain his region's projects. The water shortage brought about such a scenario that with one sq yard of land in Hyderabad, an entire village could be bought.

Mr. Chandrasekhara Rao, on the other hand, described Telangana as the "worst sufferer" under the Krishna basin with the contention that the region was entitled to get nearly 520 tmcft out of the State's share of 800 tmcft under the Bachawat Tribunal but it was hardly getting anything out of this. He said projects would get funding from agencies when they were shown as based on "assured" waters of the river and the ones taken up for his region might not be implemented at all as, all of them were planned with "surplus" water as the source.

Making out a case for Rayalaseema, Mr. Rajasekhara Reddy said only 15 per cent was irrigated in the region out of the cultivable area, while the corresponding figures for Telangana was a high of 42 per cent, only one per cent less than that of Coastal Andhra. He strongly objected to the TRS chief's consistent proposal to increase the Alamatti dam height for drawing a gravitation canal to Mahabubnagar district, on the ground that it would deprive what little benefit the State was getting now with great difficulty. There would be tears of blood from eyes if one saw the today's "pathetic" position -- empty reservoirs in the State and an overflowing Alamatti.

Mr. Reddy surprised the Telugu Desam benches showering praise on the Congress floor leader, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, likening him as one having the mettle and capacity to convince the Karnataka Chief Minister, S. M. Krishna, on release of Alamatti waters, and pleading with him to extend cooperation by joining Mr. Chandrababu Naidu in this regard.

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