Telangana to take fight to Krishna River Management Board for redressal

Hyderabad: The two Telugu states are once again locking horns over sharing of Krishna waters from the Srisailam reservoir. The Telangana government alleges that the proposal of Andhra Pradesh to lift water from Machumarri is against the AP State Reorganisation Act.

The Telangana government is accusing the Andhra Pradesh government of taking a unilateral decision in this regard. AP has not taken permission of even the Krishna River Management Board (KRBM), it alleges. On the other hand, AP feels that there is no need for it t take any new permission since it was constructing the lift irrigation project within its boundaries. It also says that the TS government had gone ahead with the Palamuru Ranga Reddy Project notwithstanding the objections from AP and wanted to know if they had taken the clearance from the Apex council.

In view of this, the Telangana government has asked its Principal Secretary Rajat Kumar to meet the Krishna River Management Board and make a presentation on how it is going to adversely affect the interests of Telangana. Rajat Kumar has already written a letter to the KRMB. This issue is likely to be taken up at the videoconference of the KRMB on Wednesday. But AP Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy said they would be using only the state share of water and have no intention to cause any loss to the TS. The KRBM had allocated 512 tmc of water for Andhra Pradesh. But Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao said that the allocation of 512 tmc of water was a temporary allocation and if the project comes up, then Palamuru and Kalwakurthi will go dry and hence they were opposing it.

Fireworks likely at KRMB meet today

The inter-state meeting of the chief engineers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to be held on Wednesday under the aegis of Union Ministry of Water Resources and Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) would be a hot one in the view of raging water row between the two States. Though the meeting is supposed to discuss sharing surplus waters, the issue of lifting of more water by Andhra Pradesh is likely to figure prominently in it.