Hyderabad: Making it clear to irrigation officials that Telangana must get its share of water from Krishna and Godavari rivers, chief minister A Revanth Reddy directed them to present effective arguments before the Brajesh Kumar Tribunal on water-sharing between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, without causing any loss to the interests of the state.
Revanth Reddy and irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy held a review on various irrigation projects with the officials concerned on Saturday, November 30, where the availability of water for irrigation, pending inter-state disputes between the two Telugu states over Krishna and Godavari waters, and the strategies required to be adopted by the state government regarding the distribution of water were discussed.
The officials informed the chief minister that the two states will be presenting their arguments before the tribunal soon, after which it will take a decision on water-sharing between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The irrigation officials and legal experts have been asked to collect the required evidence, records and orders to make arguments on behalf of the Telangana before the tribunal.
The officials apprised the chief minister of the verdicts delivered by the tribunal so far regarding the Krishna basin area, and explained the detailed project reports (DPR) related to various projects that have already been submitted to the tribunal.
The chief minister instructed the officials to keep all the reports given to the Ministry of Jal Shakti ready in sequential order and to present arguments before the tribunal in a structured manner.
As per the AP Reorganization Act, Brajesh Kumar Tribunal has been entrusted with the responsibility of taking a decision on the water-sharing between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and the project-wise water allocations. So far, the tribunal has only collected opinions and evidence from the state governments.
According to the international water principles, water allocation is to be made in the proportion of the area covered by the state under the basin. While 70 per cent of the Krishna basin area is located in Telangana, AP covers only 30 per cent .
Based on this principle, the chief minister instructed the officials to present arguments so that Telangana could get 70 per cent of the water share out of 1,005 tmcft of available water from the Krishna river.
He also reminded that since Andhra Pradesh was using 80 TMC of Godavari waters for the Krishna delta through Polavaram Project, 45 tmcft of water has been allocated to Telangana upstream of Nagarjunasagar in return.
The chief minister has instructed the officials to plan and utilise this share of river water through Telangana projects lying upstream.
Revanth Reddy inquired about the decisions made by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) since the Brajesh Kumar Tribunal hasn’t yet completed water-sharing between the two states.
The chief minister advised the officials to present arguments in the Supreme Court that there should be no interference of KRMB and GRMB until a decision on the sharing of river waters was taken by the tribunal.
The officials explained that Andhra Pradesh transferring more water than its share in the Krishna river through various projects and that this kind of siphoning could be stopped by using a telemetry system which scientifically measures the flow of water.
They said that the two states would incur Rs 12 crore ( Rs 6 crore each) to install the telemetry equipment.
The chief minister directed the officials to pay the entire amount first and implement the telemetry system, and that AP could later reimburse its share.
Revanth Reddy instructed the officials to gather all the details of the siphoning of water by Andhra Pradesh from Srisailam, Pothireddypadu, Bankancherla head regulatory, Telugu Ganga, KC canal, Handri Neeva, Galeru Nagari, and Velugodu projects.
The chief minister also instructed the officials to obtain the necessary permissions for the Sitarama Project and Sammakka Barrage, and to take all the necessary works to irrigate the ayacut under these projects.
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