Sagar left canal: date, please

BRS leader Kadiyam Venkat Reddy told a meeting at Garidepalli that farmers under the Nagarjuna Sagar Left Canal are running short on water and pressed for an immediate release to fill tanks and ponds. He argued for phased flows to recharge groundwater and cover drinking-water and livestock needs, and warned of a larger agitation if the wait drags. His lines are political; the demand is basic: announce when the canal runs. (According to the report that carried his remarks.)

The Krishna River Management Board’s own project note describes the left canal (Lal Bahadur Canal) as supplying wet crops “from August to December continuously” and lists its maximum discharge as 11,000 cusecs with 132 TMC allocated on the left bank (including 32.25 TMC to the Andhra region). Its 2023–24 report adds that KRMB will consider both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh requirements while regulating the left canal, with drinking water taking priority. None of that answers the practical question the command area is asking in mid‑August: what day, how many cusecs, for how long.

On diversions, a claim doing the rounds points at the Srisailam–Pothireddypadu route to Rayalaseema. The Andhra government’s own EIA documents confirm that route exists and draws Krishna water in the flood season; what they do not confirm is any current discharge competing with a left‑canal run on the date of the Garidepalli meeting. KRMB’s public dashboard last showed Nagarjuna Sagar at 513.8 ft (138.21 TMC) on July 8 — too old to settle the release question now.

So here we are: August, which is when the canal is normally run for wet crops per KRMB’s description, and farmers asking for the calendar. The BJP‑led Centre’s KRMB has set the framework and then left the specifics to “existing practice”. Telangana’s demand today is simpler: publish the schedule and open the gates accordingly. The Congress and TDP can debate slogans; crops cannot.