Andhra –Telangana water row: Security beefed up in Nagarjuna Sagar Dam

Hyderabad: At the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, around 700 police personnel from Andhra Pradesh stormed in and opened the right canal to release 500 cusecs of Krishna water per hour around 2 am on Thursday. The development happens hours before polls commence in Telangana, NDTV reports. On Thursday, Andhra Pradesh irrigation minister Ambati Rambabu posted on X, "We are releasing water from Nagarjunasagar right canal on Krishna river for the drinking water purposes." However, he clarified later that the state was only taking the water allotted to them as per the treaty between Andhra and Telangana. The minister told the media that they haven't flouted any treaty. Sixty-six per cent of water from Krishna belongs to Andhra Pradesh, while 34% belongs to Telangana. They have not used a single drop of water that does not belong to them, and they opened the canal in their territory, and the water they took is rightfully theirs. After the aggressive incident, tensions surged, and the Centre intervened, advising both states to revert to the release of Nagarjuna Sagar waters as of November 28. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla addressed the plan through a video message, and both states agreed to it. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been deployed to supervise the dam and to oversee that both states receive water as per the treaty. The barging incident came to the public after Telangana Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari alleged that about 500 armed policemen from Andhra Pradesh came to Nagarjuna Sagar Dam and damaged the CCTV cameras and released about 5,000 cusecs of water by opening the head regulators located at gate number 5 and 7. The said move by Andhra Pradesh allegedly caused law and order issues in Telangana. Since the state elections are going on, she said that there are concerns about supply of drinking water to two crore people in Hyderabad and surrounding areas.