Jagan seeks PM's intervention to stop power generation in Srisailam

YSR Congress Party president Ys Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and restrain the Telangana Government from using Srisailam water for power generation.

"This is SOS seeking your urgent intervention in the ongoing issue of water releases from Srisailam project by the Telangana Government for power generation to meet its power requirements. The Telangana Government started power generation from the hydro power stations located on Telangana side of the Srisailam project to meet its ever mounting power deficit. They have a generating capacity of 900 MW and if they start using the full capacity, about 5 TMC of water per day will be discharged. This is leading to release of substantial quantities of water from Srisailam reservoir to downstream. The water level in the Srisailam Reservoir has already fallen to 857 feet and is expected to fast deplete, unless the Telangana Government stops power generation immediately," Jagan said in his letter to the Prime Minister.

Jagan said that the immediate consequence of the reduction in the water level in Srisailam project below the minimum draw-down level of 854 feet would be denial to the Rayalaseema region its share of water. At this rate, the perennially drought prone Rayalaseema region, which as on 24th October 2014 has a rain fall deficit of 62%, will not have water even for drinking water purposes, let alone for crops. "This will lead to a serious human problem of unprecedented dimension, unless checked immediately," he said.

"Another major consequence of the continued hydro power generation in Srisailam project by Telangana state is that it will result in release of huge quantities of water to downstream projects and if this continues for a few days more, the AP Government will have no choice except start leaving water into the Bay of Bengal with dangerous consequences of even Coastal Andhra, particularly the Krishna delta region facing drinking water problem in months to come," Jagan said.

The YSRCP chief also endorsed the fact that Telangana is power starved state with huge power outages affecting both agriculture and industry. "But on balance, the power generation by water releases by Telangana Government will pose very serious consequences, which will hugely outweigh the benefit to Telangana state," he said.

"The immediate need of the hour is to stop power generation in Srisailam without waiting even for a minute. The Telangana Government definitely needs the sympathetic consideration of the Union Government to tide over its present power crisis. The Union Government may kindly allocate/supply about 15 million units of power per day from out of the Central Generating stations to Telangana State," he demanded while asking for a permanent mechanism to resolve the inter-state power issues, on the lines of Krishna-Godavari Boards.

Jagan also accused the governments of both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana of not cooperating with each other. "Their unwillingness to cooperate and work transparently has been causing severe problems to people of both the states. Apparently, both the Governments seem to be politicising issues rather than finding solutions. Naturally, the people have become a casualty," he said.