KURNOOL: The banks of the Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS) on the Tungabhadra almost turned into a battleground Sunday between the farmers of Mahabubnagar district, where the scheme stands, and Kurnool, which gets the benefits of the water.As farm distress mounts in both districts, the unique inter-state scheme has become a bone of contention between Telangana and Rayalaseema.At about 11 am on Sunday, about 1,000 farmers from Mahbubnagar, under the leadership of the RDS Water Users Association sandbagged a sluice to prevent flow of water to Kurnool district.Informed of this, farmers from Kurnool, led by Mantralayam MLA Balanagi Reddy, marched to the canal in Kosagi mandal.With both groups camping on their side of the project, insults were flung across the divide and things turned ugly.Adoni additional superintendent of police Shimoshi Bajpayee and revenue divisional officer Ramsundara Reddy rushed to the spot and brought things under control after four hours of persuasion.The farmers from both sides then returned to their villages.Police posted a picket lest they return.The inter-district fight over water from Rajolibanda has been a frequent affair, dating back to 1983.As per design of the project, irrigation water is released to Karnataka and Mahbubnagar from the Left canal of RDS while Rayalaseema gets water from the right canal.However, engineers say Karnataka habitually overdraws water upstream depriving the Mahabubnagar farmers downstream.In desperation, Mahabubnagar farmers tend to covet the water that goes to Rayalaseema by way of the right canal.
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