The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Pilferage of Kandaleru water figures in talks

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Sunday, Aug 06, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Pilferage of Kandaleru water figures in talks

T. Ramakrishnan

Because of this, State gets only about one-third of what is released

EXTENDING GREETINGS: Tamil Nadu PWD Minister K. Ponmudi (left)and Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in Hyderabad on Saturday. — Photo: DIPR

CHENNAI: The issue of illicit drawing of water along the 152-km-long Kandaleru-Poondi Canal, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, again figured in the discussions between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad on Saturday.

Because of this, Tamil Nadu realised only about one-third of what was released from the Kandaleru reservoir, nearly 200 km. from Chennai.

Though Andhra Pradesh has assured Tamil Nadu that it would do everything to arrest pilferage, there has been no improvement in the situation.

Conscious of the ground realities, Tamil Nadu, in Saturday's talks, impressed upon its neighbour the need for carrying out the water release in such a way that it got its full share at zero point.

Once the release from Kandaleru begins, the realisation should be 1,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs), sources say.

As part of the 1983 agreement between the States, Tamil Nadu is to get 12 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) over a period of eight months in a year — eight tmcft during July-October and four tmcft from January to April.

Another issue is the increase in the storage of the Somasila and Kandaleru reservoirs.

Reservoirs' capacity

As part of the Krishna water supply project, the capacity of the two reservoirs is to be enhanced to 78 tmcft and 59 tmcft respectively.

Land acquisition has been delaying this move.

In the discussion, Tamil Nadu took up the issue and Andhra Pradesh indicated that it would complete the work in a couple of years, the sources say.

As per the 1997 rates, the total cost of the project has been estimated at about Rs. 2,400 crore, of which Tamil Nadu's share is around Rs. 640 crore. So far, Tamil Nadu has paid Rs. 512 crore to Andhra Pradesh.

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