The State government has requested the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to direct Telangana not to operate powerhouses of Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar without water release orders from the board.
The government also wanted that the powerhouse at Pulichintala should not be operated by Telangana without indent by Andhra Pradesh for water requirement in the Krishna Delta System.
Andhra Pradesh Engineer in Chief (EnC) C. Narayana Reddy wrote a letter on Monday to the KRMB in response to the views expressed by the Telangana government regarding the power generation at Left side Power House at NSRSP Srisailam Project.
Mr. Reddy said the administrative control of the right bank main powerhouse and the entire Srisailam reservoir except the left bank main powerhouse vested with Andhra Pradesh. And the control of the left side pumped storage scheme vested with Telangana by virtue of geographical boundaries of the divided States, he added.
The pumped storage scheme at the left bank was envisaged as the peak load generation station and after generation of power, the same quantity of water had to be pumped back to the reservoir. The releases through the right bank main powerhouse were to be made to the extent of the downstream requirement of drinking and irrigation, duly considering the storage in the Nagarjunasagar reservoir, he asserted.
“The right bank main powerhouse thus acts as a firm power generation station. The power generation by the successor States from their respective power stations at Srisailam will have to be limited to their downstream drinking and irrigation requirements," Mr. Reddy said in the letter, adding, “If any excess power generation is made through the left pumped storage scheme over and above the downstream entitlements, then such excess releases so made shall be pumped back to the reservoir.”
The release of water at Nagarjunasagar and Pulichintala was incidental to the extent of drinking and irrigation releases for the Krishna delta in Andhra Pradesh, he said.
Generation of power at Nagarjunasagar dam powerhouse and Pulichintala dam powerhouse might be shared between both the States, he said, while adding that even though the powerhouses were geographically located in Telangana, downstream water requirements were under Krishna Delta System in Andhra Pradesh.
As Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar were common reservoirs, Telangana should not operate powerhouses unilaterally, he added.
