Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and former minister G. Jagadish Reddy stated that emptying of Nagarjunasagar tail-pond by Andhra Pradesh stands as the height of Congress government’s neglect of the river waters, irrigation and drinking water issues.
Speaking at Suryapet on Friday, he said the tail-pond located 21 km downstream of Nagarjunasagar dam at Satrasala in Nalgonda district has a storage capacity of 6 tmc ft and in the last 10 years it was full even in summer season to meet the drinking water needs in Nalgonda district. But, this year it had been emptied by A.P. with ministers and legislators of Telangana being in deep slumber.
He demanded that the State government answer the people of erstwhile Nalgonda district as to why and who had emptied the tail-pond. Not only the ministers and ruling party legislators but even the Chief Minister owes an answer to the people.
Alleging that the Congress government was totally neglecting issues pertaining to water resources, the BRS leader said the tail-pond had been meeting the drinking water needs and meeting energy needs in needy situations all these years but this year the State government was busy in politics while the A.P. was emptying it illegally.
He demanded that an inquiry be ordered into to the ‘theft’ of tail-pond water and held the ministers and the Chief Minister responsible for it. He asked the people of Nalgonda district to question the Congress leaders coming to them for election campaign on the subject.
According to Irrigation Department officials, the tail-pond had 6.593 tmc ft water at 6 a.m. on April 1 and it had depleted to 2.924 tmc ft by 6 p.m. on April 18.
