THE WATER WOES..

Two of India's mighty rivers wind their way through Telangana gathering more tha
n 2/3rds of their water from the region. the government of the Hyderabad state d
uring its regime has made an ambitious blue print to use these waters for irriga
tion. it was estimated that the projects when finished could bring more than 70
lakh acres of barren land to irrigation and turn this arid, and overexploited re
gion into a green and prosperous one.
But with the merger of two states in 1956, all the hopes of Telangana were seale
d foe ever. all the projects contemplated before the merger were abandoned, the
ones started came to a halt and the projects promised during merging are either
yet to take off or remained eternally unfinished.
For almost 50 years the people of Telangana waited silently for their waters una
ware of the fact that their waters were taken through backroute and allowing the
existing reservoirs to dry and silt and decay.
In the Telangana region, the area under irrigation has been shrunk by almost hal
f in these fifty years. in 1956, 20 lakh acres were under irrigation while in 20
04, it shrunk to mere 12 lakhs.after all these years the image of Telangana is v
ery pathetic today, in its long alliance what Telangana has lost is hardly beyon
d imagination.
THE KRISHNA...
According to the central water tribunal of 1956, in the Krishna river waters, Te
langana has a share of 550 TMC and Andhra 346 TMC. but today, with the Bhima, Ka
lwakurthy, Nettampad, SLBC tunnel canal and Nagarjun sagar Tail Pond Projects on
the pending list,the net utilization of these waters are 800 TMC for Andhra and
100 TMC for Telangana..a shocking proof of Andhra exploitation.
Srisailam and Nagrajun sagar dams , the modern temples of India, has promised to
provide equal shares of water to both Telangana and Andhra region. while the pr
oposed irrigation in Telangana through Srisailam dam was 5 lakh acres, actual ir
rigation today is NIL. Promised decades ago, the Srisailam Left Bank Tunnel is y
et to take shape.
Nagarjun sagar Dam, originally proposed at a site 19 kms above the current site
would have given abundant waters to the areas of Telangana. but soon after the m
erger, the site was shifted to current place downstream leaving the Mahaboob Nag
ar district at higher level and dry. and the further diversion of water for powe
r generation put the final nails to the coffin of Telangan people's hope for Nag
arjunSagar waters. while the proposed irrigation in Telangana is 15 lakh acres,
only 5 lakh acres have been brought under irrigation.
THE GODAVARI ...
Godavari, the Ganges of the south, travels for 600 kilometers in the Telangana r
egion. yet, Sriram sagar is the lone project on this mighty river and even this
project, grounded 40 years ago is still is in its first phase. of the proposed i
rrigation for 15 lakh acres only 6 lakh acres have been brought under irrigation
.
Ichampally, originally proposed by the Nizam government is still to be materiali
zed. same is the fate of Yellampalli, Devadula, Dummugudem, Lendi, Gutpa, Alisag
ar, Pranahita and Lower Penuganga.
I, being a native of Nizamabad district of telangana, have a first hand knowledg
e of whats happening in the Gutpa, Alisagar and SriramSagar projects. 13 trial r
uns were done for the gutpa project until now and evreytime it failed, clearly d
emonstrating the corruption involved in the construction of these projects. its
a shame that the administration is taking the side of the contractors while it s
hould speak for the loss of public exchequer.
The Telangana farmer waits for his share on the Godavari rivers (telangana has a
share of 1154 TMC in godavari waters, while the net utilization is 100 TMC).
Year after the year, government redeems ots commitment for telangana. budgets sh
ow that major emphasis is given to telangana projects. but the reality is comple
tely different.
The Bachawat Tribunal has foresaw the situation in 1976 itself, in its report, i
t said "..had there been NO MERGER of the states, there were BETTER CHANCES for
this area TO GET IRRIGATION FACILITIES."
Yet the worst fears of the people of telangana came true..the people not only lo
st their waters, but also their land and their livelihood.
MahaboobNagar the largest district of telangana is where river krishna enters an
dhraprades along with its tributeries Bhima and Tungabhadra..yet drought has bec
ome a common thing in this area. today the region is not able to sustain its ani
mal wealth, more than 2/3rds of it is lost to slaughter houses. almost 14 lakh p
eople migrate every year from this region leaving the fate of their family membe
rs to luck.
NEGLECTION OF GROUND WATER RESOURCES..
For centuries, the tanks and the ponds were the lifelines of telangana, more tha
n 1.5 lakhs of such water bodies once dotted this landscape sometimes linked in
a chain to accomodate overflow from one pond to the other. but this centuries ol
d water harvesting system, because of willful and deliberate neglect of these wa
ter resources reduced the area under tank cultivation to less than 1/4th now. in
1956, there were 11 lakh acres under tank irrigation while today its just 2.4 l
akh acres. deprived of surface water, the telangana farmer was left with the onl
y option of looking for groundwater. but this overdependence of underground wate
r created a situation where in most parts of telangana, there is no water even a
t a depth of 700 feet.
The Telangana farmers have invested more than 20,000 rupees of their own money o
n borewells and pumpsets while the state subsidized the farmers of Andhra by div
erting the waters and canals to that region.
Pochampally, a village in Nalgonda district has more number of bore wells than t
he people there. out of these only a few hundred work, provided electric power i
s provided.
The obsession with borewells is an optimism driven by despair but this optimism
is pushing them into despair and distressed life. for every farmer who committed
suicide, there are many leading lives in despair and helplessness. just an anot
her bad season will push many of these fragile lives over the edge.
The natural flouride deep down in earth made way into thousands of homes through
the drinking water. with only handpumps as the source of water, people are left
with no option but to drink this poisoned water. more than 2 lakh innocent peop
le have fell victims to Flouorisis in the districts of nalgonda and mahaboobnaga
r. its an irony that the biggest dam of Andhra Pradesh is in the Nalgonda distri
ct !!