Hyderabad: Without affecting the outcome of the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal and the apex court regarding the cases pending before them over allocation of Krishna waters between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the two states on Friday came to a final understanding for sharing waters for the present Water Year of 2015-16.
The MoU was signed by the two irrigation secretaries, Mr S.K. Joshi (Telangana) and Mr B. Adityanath Das (Andhra Pradesh), in the presence of officials of the Krishna River Management Board, Central Water Commission and Union Ministry of Water Resources in New Delhi on Friday.
According to Telangana irrigation adviser Mr R. Vidyasagar Rao, a retired chief engineer with the Central Water Commission, the MoU is more or less in conformity with what the Telangana government has been asking for.
Some salient points of the MoU:
Both Telangana and AP should share surplus or deficit over and above the combined realisation of 811 TMC ft of water. TS will get 299 and AP will get 512 TMC ft of water en bloc for the present year.
This quantum of water can be utilised by the states in whatever manner they wish, provided Telangana can utilise water from Srisailam dam for power generation, keeping the needs of downstream Nagarjunasagar Dam as well as the requirements of Chennai water supply (15 TMC ft) and Srisailam Right Branch canal (19 TMC ft) in mind.
Both states can utilise their quota of water, without affecting the rights of the other state.
The utilisation of water from Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme and Kurnool-Cuddapah canal should be restricted to the specific allotments only.
A three-member committee comprising a Krishna River Manage-ment Board official and the engineering-in-chiefs of Telangana and AP will sit regularly to monitor inflows and withdrawal of water for various projects in the two states and to arrive at a consensus. The same shall be conveyed to the Central Water Commission.
