Telangana waters down AP’s Krishna charge

Hyderabad: Ahead of summer, Telangana State and Andhra Pradesh governments locked horns at the KRMB meeting over the utilisation of water in river Krishna for drinking purpose in Hyderabad and also for Mission Bahgiratha. In the heated argument at the three-member committee of KRMB (Krishna River Management Board) meeting, Telangana State Irrigation officials contended that the State utilised Krishna water as per the KWDT-1 (Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal) final order. While Andhra government objected to the Telangana State government’s claim that it had utilised 20 per cent of 16.5 tmcft of water allotted to it. The Andhra Pradesh government claimed that the Telangana State had utilised all the water allotted it for drinking water purpose.  

As per the KWDT order and GO 29 issued in the united Andhra Pradesh and also an agreement entered into by the two States in 2015 in New Delhi, Telangana State officials explained to their AP counterparts that “the quantity of water utilised for drinking purpose should be accounted as 3.30 tmcft as consumptive use out of 16.50 tmcft drawls. Telangana State also mentioned that the reallocated quantity of 5.70 tmcft of water supply to twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad drawn from Nagarjunasagar project should be considered as consumptive use.”

However, the AP government insisted that the total water diverted for drinking purpose should be accounted for in the present scenario. The Telangana State government opposed the AP’s demand and placed all the evidences before the AP officials to prove their claim. The issue of utilisation of Krishna water for Mission Bhagiratha also figured in the meeting. When AP objected to the TS government on using water without KRMB permission, the Telangana State officials maintained that water within the allocations made to the State would only be utilised under the Mission Bhagiratha launched to supply potable drinking water to every household in the State. 

The Telangana State officials nailed AP counterparts for the excess drawl of water from Pothireddypadu regulator on the pretext of leakages. The officials said the AP had exploited nearly 20 tmcft of water by discharging 1,000 to 3,000 cusecs of water every day. The KRMB team also visited the regulator and established the argument with the proof of excess withdrawal of water.