Fifteen spillway gates of the Taliperu reservoir in Charla mandal of Bhadradri Kothagudem district were opened on Tuesday following moderate inflows from the Taliperu river catchment areas along the inter-State border with Chhattisgarh.

For the first time in this monsoon season, the reservoir received an inflow of 9679 cusecs, prompting project officials to open 15 gates to regulate the inflows and release the excess water into the downstream of the river.

The water level in the reservoir stood at 73.65 metres late on Tuesday afternoon, just below  its Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 74 metres.

Despite fresh inflows into the Taliperu reservoir, water levels in the Godavari and its other tributaries continued to remain low due to deficient rainfall in upstream areas.

On September 7, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to solve the long-pending Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal issue between Punjab and Haryana, saying, “It’s the duty of the Centre to ensure water for Punjab and Haryana, not to make them fight”.

In a press conference at Haryana’s Hisar, he accused BJP of dual-speak, adding, “What’s the stand of the Congress and the BJP in Punjab and Haryana? In Punjab, they say we will not let the SYL canal be constructed. In Haryana, they say we will take SYL waters at any cost. These people do dirty politics”.