Nagarjunasagar dam: Tension prevails as Telangana, Andhra cops clash at site

Tension prevailed at the inter-state major irrigation project of Nagarjunasagar located on Krishna river, when the irrigation department authorities of Andhra Pradesh allegedly trespassed into the project site, clashed with the Telangana police and took control over half of the project spillway in the early hours of Thursday, people familiar with the matter said.

A senior official of Telangana irrigation department, who refused to be quoted in view of the model code of conduct in force for the assembly elections in the state, said the Andhra Pradesh occupied up to half of the dam, gained control over 13 of 26 crest gates and erected barricades and barbed wires to prevent the Telangana police and the irrigation officials entering into their territory.

Later in the morning, the irrigation officials of the Andhra Pradesh government started releasing 500 cusecs of Krishna water per hour from the dam to meet the drinking water needs of their region.

“We are releasing water from Nagarjunasagar right canal on Krishna river for the drinking water purposes,” Andhra Pradesh state irrigation minister Ambati Rambabu posted a cryptic message on X.

The incident happened at around 2 am, when the police personnel of the Telangana government were busy making arrangements for the polling for assembly elections in the state that began at 7 am on Thursday.

According to the official quoted above, about 700 police personnel from the Andhra Pradesh side barged on to the Nagarjuna Sagar dam and started putting up barricades and barbed wire fencing till 13th crest gate.

“When a few of the Telangana state special police forces guarding the dam raised an objection, the Andhra Pradesh pushed them away and even thrashed some of them, leading to clashes. They also damaged the closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras setup at the entrance of the spillway as a part of the security arrangement,” the official said.

Miryalguda deputy superintendent of police P Venkatagiri rushed to the spot along with his team and tried to talk to the Andhra police, but the latter refused to remove the barricades and fencing. He immediately alerted the higher-ups in the department, but reinforcements of police could not be done immediately as the police were busy with the arrangements for polling scheduled to commence hours later.

“Having no other option, the Telangana police returned to their positions on their side. We are going to lodge a complaint with the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) which is the authority over the Nagarjunsagar project,” the official said.

He said as per the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, Nagarjunasagar dam is controlled and supervised by Telangana, while Andhra Pradesh was given the control over Srisailam project since the projects are joint storage facilities meeting the power generation, irrigation and drinking needs in the two states.

“The project has to be ultimately handed over to the KRMB once the water share in Krishna water between the two states is decided. Till such time, trespassing into the dam site is illegal,” the official said.

He said due to poor rainfall in the Krishna basin this year, there is hardly any water left in the reservoir and AP had already utilised its share to meet its irrigation and drinking water requirements.

Meanwhile, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president A Revanth Reddy alleged that the midnight episode on Nagarjunasagar was part of a high drama enacted by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi government in collusion with the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra only to kick up Telangana sentiment hours before the polling.

“There was no immediate provocation and it happened all of a sudden. It is very clear that the AP police had created a hungama at Nagarajunasagar only to see that the BRS government gains political mileage in the elections. The BRS wants to create an impression that only it can protect the interests of the state,” Revanth Reddy said.

He appealed to the voters not to get carried away with such dramas and theatrics, which occurred on the polling day. “There is no need for any worry. We shall deal with the issue through negotiations soon after coming to power next week,” he asserted.

Senior BRS leader and Telangana state legislative council chairman Gutta Sukender Reddy alleged that Andhra police tried to bulldoze release of water from Nagarjunasagar when Telangana was busy with the polling process.

Andhra Pradesh state BJP president Daggubati Purandeshwari took strong exception to the clashes on Nagarjunasagar dam. “It is an unfortunate incident. I don’t understand why it should happen only hours before the polling in Telangana. It smacks of political conspiracy,” she alleged.