AP sticks to 50:50 share in Krishna waters

Amaravati: A meeting called for by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to resolve the river water-sharing dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at the KRMB headquarters in Hyderabad on Wednesday remained inconclusive as both the States refused to budge from their stated positions.

AP officials did not accede to the demand of Telangana officials that the waters must be shared on a 50:50 ratio claiming that the earlier award of 70:30 ratio should be the norm.

Telangana officials protested the stand of the KRMB that power generation should be done only when there was a requirement of irrigation and drinking water needs from Srisailam downstream.

AP has been objecting to the power generation at the Left Bank Power Project arguing that it's detrimental to the interests of dry Rayalaseema region and to Chennai whose drinking water needs would also be affected.

Even as Telangana has been insisting on a 50:50 ratio in sharing of Krishna waters from this year, the Andhra Pradesh government has earlier written to the KRMB seeking 70:30 allocation for the current water year 2021-22.

The AP government suggested that until the proceedings of Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal-II concluded, the same arrangement should be followed.

As against the working arrangement of 66:34 ratio of water sharing that has been in place, Telangana continued to push for equal share of the 811 TMC of water, ie, 405.5 TMC as opposed to 512 TMC for AP and 299 for TS.

Noting the "persistent" demand of the neighbouring State, the board has also included the same for discussion on the agenda. However, Andhra Pradesh's engineer-in-chief (irrigation) C Narayana Reddy, who had shot off a letter recently to the board seeking 70:30 ratio in sharing of Krishna waters, insisted on the same on Wednesday.

The AP officials had, in the past too, complained against the utilisation of 175.54 TMC of water from minor irrigation projects by Telangana against the allocated 89.15 TMC. Hence, the 70:30 principle should be finalised for the current year, it argued.

While Telangana is seeking an additional share of 45 TMC in Krishna waters following the clearance of Polavaram project, AP insists that TS has been diverting 214 TMC of Godavari water to Krishna basin.

AP has once again requested that the water used by Telangana unilaterally for power generation since June this year be accounted against its 299 TMC quota.