Telangana Govt not to hand over control of common irrigation projects to KRMB

Hyderabad: Telangana government on Monday introduced a resolution in the Legislative Assembly that it would not hand over control of common irrigation projects to Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).

Introducing the resolution in the house during the ongoing budget session, state Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the water share between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states should be on the basis of – Catchment area, Drought Prone area, Basin Population and /cultivable area.

River Krishna is the life line of the regions of Southern Telangana both for Irrigation and drinking water purposes, he said after the formation of the state of Andhra Pradesh through the Bachawat Tribunal

Award, 811 TMC of water was allocated to the state of Andhra Pradesh . Successive governments have created substantial Irrigation potential through construction of Major projects.

After the formation of the new state of Telangana sufficient attention was not given to the requirements of the Krishna Basin and the then Government (TRS) agreed to the grossly unfair ration of water sharing between the two states which is 299 TMC to Telangana and 512 TMC to Andhra Pradesh, the Minister alleged.

Through the AP reorganisation Act 2014, KRMB was created for regulating the water sharing between the two Telugu states, Reddy said that then TRS Government also proposed to hand over the common projects – Srisailam Dam and Nagarjunasagar Dam to the control of KRMB, which is detrimental to the interest of Telangana.

The Board jurisdiction to that effect has also notified by the government of India which was not objected to by the Previous TRS government, he alleged and said on the night of November 29 last year, the Andhra Pradesh government by sending armed police, forcibly took over the control of the right side of Nagarjunasagar Dam which was till then under the control of Telangana.

The Central Government stepped in and sent CRPF to remove the AP Police, said Uttam.

In view of the historical injustice and the current situation, the Congress Government has taken the decision to not to hand over control of common irrigation projects to KRMB unless the conditions put forth by the state have been fulfilled including the sharing between the two states should be on the basis of ‘ Catchment area, Drought prone area, basin population and Cultivable area, he said.

In the resolution, the government also demanded that the unauthorized construction of projects or expansions or new components diverting Krishna water to outside basins should not be permitted strictly unless approved by CWC/MoWR.

Outside basin diversion from Srisailam reservoir should be limited to 34 TMC ( 15 TMC for Chennai Water supply and 19 TMC for SRBC) which were approved by Central Water Commission (CWC), the resolution stated.

The use towards drinking water should be reckoned as 20 percent of drawl towards consumptive use as stipulated by KWDT-I, the resolution said.

Srisailam project was sanctioned as Hydro-electric project by planning Commission in 1962 for supplying 264 TMC of water to Nagarjunasagar project. Accordingly, MDDL of Srisailam will be +830 ft as per KWDT-I Award, the resolution added.