Telangana confronts KRMB on handing over of projects

Hyderabad: The Telangana government is locking horns with the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on the issue of handing over of the projects mentioned in the gazette notification issued by the Union Jal Shakti ministry. The notification is to come into effect from October 14.

The KRMB had rejected the repeated pleas of the State government to defer taking over of the projects till the issue of sharing of water between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh was resolved.

The ongoing fight between the Telangana government and the Centre is set to intensify on sharing of Krishna river water. The State government has rejected the KRMB's appeal to hand over the projects to the board.

The State has categorically told the board that no project would be handed over to it until water-sharing disputes between the two Telugu States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are resolved.

The board in a statement said that "All the direct outlets (components) from the main reservoirs of Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar projects which are listed under Schedule-2 of the gazette notification may be prioritized by respective State governments for handing over to the KRMB by October 14."

The board convened a meeting with the officials of Telangana Irrigation department over the issue.

During the marathon meeting, the officials of Telangana said that their demand for sharing of water on 50:50 basis should be first accepted.

State Special Chief Secretary to Irrigation Rajath Kumar explained the hurdles facing in the utilization of river Krishna water due to prolonged delay in resolving the water sharing issue. Telangana has been demanding 570 TMC of water from Krishna as the water needs increased after the completion of the pending lift and irrigation schemes.

The government was not ready to hand over the hydel power generation centre at Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam projects. The Telangana state was depending on the hydel power to meet the energy needs mainly the 24-hour free power supply to agriculture.

The State was not ready to lose the ownership of hydel units in the crisis time, Rajath Kumar told the board.

He said the government was seeking legal opinion on the KRMB statement and would take appropriate decision by Wednesday.

According to the gazette, the projects that would be taken over are Srisailam spillway, Srisailam right bank hydel unit, Pothireddypadu, Pump house at Handri – Niva and Muchumarri lift schemes in Andhra Pradesh would be maintained by the KRMB. In Telangana, the First pumphouse of Kalwakurthi lift scheme, Srisialam left hydel power unit, 15 points AMRP lift (Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project ) under Nagarjuna Sagar, headworks and power block at Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala and Tummilla lift scheme.