Chief Secretary level talks on cards to diffuse tension at Nagarjuna Sagar Project

The Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) were also posted of the situation. Irrigation officials said that AP continued to draw water from the right canal by lifting the project head regulator.

Hyderabad: Chief Secretary-level talks between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are likely to be held anytime on Friday as the primary step to diffuse tension at the Nagarjuna Sagar Project site, where Andhra Pradesh has deployed over 700 armed personnel after taking control of the operations of the Right Canal Head Regulator and 13 of the 26 crest gates.

Telangana State authorities also repositioned the police forces tasked with dam security on Friday morning. They were away for the past one week on election bandobust. Additional reinforcements are also reaching the dam site as a precaution.

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The Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) were also posted of the situation. Irrigation officials said that AP continued to draw water from the right canal by lifting the project head regulator. About 25 tmc of water is available above the minimum drawdown level (510ft) of the project and nearly two tmc of it was drawn by it in the past two days.

About 15 tmc would be the actual requirement of Telangana State to meet the drinking water needs of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, besides the districts of Nalgonda and Khammam, till the end of May 2024.

Both states had given their commitment to the KRMB to utilize the water available in the project only for meeting drinking water needs. But Andhra Pradesh, which had already utilized over and above its riparian entitlement for the current water year, had backed out of its commitment and started drawing Telangana share too, resulting in the conflict situation, according to project authorities.

They wanted AP to withdraw its forces as the first condition to restore normality at the dam site. The operational control of the project has been entrusted to Telangana as part of the understanding between the two states after state bifurcation. Telangana has spent over Rs 100 crore meeting the project maintenance needs so far this year.