Harish bares KRMB’s skewed stance

Harish bares KRMB’s skewed stance
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Highlights

Minister for Irrigation T Harish Rao, in a letter here on Monday to the Central Water Commission (CWC), complained against the alleged bias of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) against Telangana which has been in existence for the last three years.

New Delhi: Minister for Irrigation T Harish Rao, in a letter here on Monday to the Central Water Commission (CWC), complained against the alleged bias of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) against Telangana which has been in existence for the last three years.

Harish Rao stated in the letter that water sharing issue was one of the main issues that led to the separate Statehood agitation because Telangana was deprived of its share of water under the erstwhile governments in the undivided Andhra Pradesh. After formation of the State, Telangana expected expeditious determination of its share of water based on demand, catchment area and yield, etc.

Hence, it was important to make a source-wise analysis of demand and supply of water for different purposes in the two Telugu States, the Minister added. However, an unprofessional approach had been adopted by the KRMB and it was leading to complications, he lamented citing its failure to release optimum quantity of water from Srisailam to Nagarjunasagar in the current water year to meet the requirements of both the Left and Right Bank Canals farmers.

The KRMB had only made half-hearted attempts to stop drawal of water by AP from Pothireddypadu head regulator.
The Minister said that Andhra Pradesh government had grossly violated the water release ordered by KRMB and used more than 5 TMC of water through Pothireddypadu whereas the Telangana State had drawn water from Srisailam for power grid needs and to store water in downstream Nagarjuanasagar Reservoir for providing for both drinking water and irrigation needs of both the States.

Harish Rao said that recently the Telangana State government had sought the release of 2 TMC of water for drinking purpose for the common capital of Hyderabad of the two State, but to due to the indecisiveness of KRMB, the order to release water was delayed.

Moreover, KRMB was asked to release 15 TMC towards drinking water needs of Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar and Khammam districts but no action had been initiated in this regard so far, he lamented,

He said that in the issue of Telemetry Stations too, the Board was showing bias by postponing the same though it proposed to install 18 stations in the first phase - 14 in Telangana and four in AP. Furthermore, Telangana State had complained about the tampering of the Telemetry Station records in Pothireddypadu by the operator and sought a criminal complaint against the agency, but no action had been forthcoming in this regard, the Minister complained seeking CWC intervention and action thereof.

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