HYDERABAD: Senior Congress legislator P. Janardhan Reddy has demanded that the State Government keep in abeyance the tender process initiated for increasing the capacity of Pothireddypadu head regulator.

Reiterating that the increase in the capacity of the head regulator would adversely affect the interests of farmers in Telangana and Krishna delta, he wanted Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy not to take hasty decisions in this regard. The Government should come out clearly on the mechanism that would be adopted to determine the extent of floodwater in the Krishna pending which no efforts should be made to open sluices at the proposed 841 ft height.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr. Reddy alleged that despite repeated representations made on the issue, the Government was "juggling orders." While no mechanism had been evolved to determine the floodwaters, the orders being issued by the Government from time to time were raising apprehensions that the Government was trying to provide assured irrigation facilities to Rayalaseema at the expense of Telangana and Coastal regions.

Citing the orders issued from time to time, he said the Government's move to increase the dead storage level of the project from 834 ft to 854 ft appeared to be aimed at ensuring the discharge of water through Pothireddypadu head regulator by stopping power generation after a certain limit.

Water for Telangana

This would, in turn, mean that a majority of the projects in Telangana, which were lift irrigation projects, would be denied power required for them, he pointed out. Quoting from the reports circulated to the CLP members that Telangana received a major part of allocations in the irrigation sector, he wanted the Government to ensure that allocation of water be made accordingly in the interests of the farmers of the region.

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