TS, AP agree to resolve Krishna water disputes

Hyderabad: In what could be a major development in the long-pending Krishna water disputes, the two Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh gave their consent for rule curve to the water management in the combined irrigation projects on river Krishna.

The irrigation officials of the two states on Saturday attended the meeting on water management in the reservoirs conducted by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) here. The officials of the two states expressed their objections on the water management in the combined projects.

KRMB member secretary B Ravikumar Pillai said the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments expressed their readiness for rule curve with regard to the Srisailam reservoir and the two states have not yet to come to an understanding on Sagar rule curve which is to be resolved with the intervention of the Central Water Commission. The two state officials also agreed to calculate every drop of Krishna water after entering the Telugu states, the officials said, adding that the role of Reservoir Management Committee will end as the water storage and management issues will be resolved after the two states expressed their readiness to address them. The next step will be the constitution of the permanent reservoir management committee involving the two states' officials as members soon.

Telangana ENC (Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation) Muralidhar said that power sharing, water management in Sagar and Srisailam and other issues were discussed in the meeting.

AP accepted to utilise only 34 TMC of water for Pothireddypadu Head Regulator from Srisailam. AP also agreed to the use of water utilized for hydel power generation in equal proportion and Telangana accepted to the calculation of the surplus waters in Krishna.

AP ENC Narayana Reddy said the two states have come to an understanding with regard to the Srisailam reservoir. Rule curve, water management and hydel power generation issues were discussed. Telangana has also expressed its readiness to address the water management issue with AP in the meeting.