Hyderabad: The governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh agreed to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) handling the operations of the Srisailam and the Nagarjunasagar projects’ water management outlets, which provide water for irrigation to both states.
The decision came after a meeting of the KRMB chairman and Union water resources Secretary with the Engineer in Chiefs’ (ENC) of Telangana, AP at Jalasoudha in the city on Thursday, February 1.
Also, both AP and Telangana agreed to the formation of a three-member committee which will take the final call on water sharing between the states and that the KRMB will implement the decision at the field level.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Telangana ENC Muralidhar Rao said that the state has voiced its demand for a share of 50 per cent in the Krishna waters.
He also said that the discussion didn’t include the decision over the management of hydroelectric centres.
He hoped that the new arrangements would avoid controversies between the two states.
This year Telangana plans to draw 20 TMC but the quantum will now be decided by a three-member committee.
“If the committee decides the quantum at 15 TMC or 22 TMC, the same will be implemented by the Board through us,” he said.
He said the state has conveyed its demands in writing to the Centre and it was waiting for a response.
AP ENC Narayana Reddy informed that it was agreed in the meeting that 6 components of Telangana and 9 components of Andhra Pradesh will be handed over to the KRMB.
“Both states also agreed on allocating personnel for the operations,” he said.
It may be recalled that there was tension between both states at Nagarjuna Sagar Dam on November 30 when Andhra Pradesh officials forcibly released water to Andhra Pradesh by opening gates.
The Union Home Ministry had intervened to deploy the CRPF. Later, the Union Water Resources Ministry called a meeting of both the states to defuse the tension.
(With inputs from IANS)
