Hyderabad: Differences over sharing of Krishna waters between TS and AP at the Krishna River Management Board meeting held here forced an abrupt end to the meeting. While AP sought the release of Krishna waters from Nagarjunasagar for the Krishna Pushkaralu and drinking water needs, TS objected, saying that it requires the Nagarjunasagar water to meet drinking water needs of Hyderabad.
As consensus eluded between the two states, the Board called off meeting abruptly. Irrigation Engineers-in-Chief of both the states attended the meeting and put forth their arguments before the Board. TS argued that there was no question of releasing Krishna waters from Nagarjunasagar to AP at this stage as it will be utilised to meet the drinking water needs of Hyderabad for another two months.
It stated that Nagarjunasagar was already close to dead storage level and it needs to utilise the 3 tmc ft to supply water to Hyderabad. However, AP opposed this and demanded TS to release water through right bank canal to meet its own drinking water needs.
To this, TS reiterated that it was not possible to release water to AP due to low water levels and no inflows from upstream Karnataka. With both the states sticking to their guns and remaining adamant, Board member-secretary Sameer Chatterjee called off meeting abruptly.
It was decided to hold secretary-level meeting with both the states since the ENCs-level meet failed to achieve results. The KRMB held the meeting as per the suggestion of the Union water resources ministry to break the deadlock between AP and TS over sharing of Krishna waters. The TS government has been arguing that it has been utilising its genuine share in Krishna water and it will utilise waters from Nettempad, Koilsagar and Bheema projects to meet drinking water needs in Mahbubnagar.
