Minister for Water Resources l Kumar on Saturday attacked the former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for alleging that the state government was conspiring to drown his house located on the banks of the Krishna River.
"Chandrababu's claim that the floods were man-made and were aimed at inundating his riverfront house in which he is residing is a baseless argument. If we had released floodwater at one go as Chandrababu said, all the reservoirs would be empty now. The government and officials together worked efficiently and managed flood effectively," Kumar said at a press conference here.
"The water was released as per the set procedures only after the reservoirs were full and the crest gates were opened as per the standard operating procedure," he added.
Defending Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for being in the US while the state was affected by floods, Kumar said: "A review was conducted from time to time and all necessary actions were taken. The Collectors concerned were constantly monitoring the flood situation."
"It was Chandrababu who had fled to Hyderabad gauging the intensity of the floods and the fear of imminent inundation of the residence in which he is staying," he added.
He further said that the flood gates were opened as per the set norms from Almatti down to Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala. With water gushing in, Prakasam Barrage had seen water of such magnitude for the first time in the recent past where the gates had to be opened.
"Fearing that there would be imminent inundation to the riverfront structure, Chandrababu found it safer to flee to Hyderabad. He returned only after normalcy was restored and gave a power-point presentation in which he tried to show that the Government tried to flood his residence which is a baseless and irrational argument", he said.
( With inputs from ANI )