TS govt in jitters as Centre puts Mission Bhagiratha in KRMB ambit

Hyderabad: The state government is tense over water allocations to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's pet project Mission Bhagiratha, as the Centre has taken control of all irrigation projects over the Krishna and the Godavari rivers and bringing them under the jurisdiction of the river boards.

What shocked the government the most was notifying Mission Bhagiratha, the drinking water project, under the ambit of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB). Mission Bhagiratha figures at serial No. 25 in the list of projects brought under the control of the KRMB.

The TRS government spent over Rs.45,000 crore to complete Mission Bhagiratha, making Telangana the only state to provide treated water to every household through tap connections.

The government now has to seek the Centre’s permission to allocate water from the Krishna and the Godavari to Mission Bhagiratha. The government’s primary concern is regarding allocations to Mission Bhagiratha in summer, when the irrigation projects hold little water.

The government had decided to write to the Centre seeking exclusion of Mission Bhagiratha from the gazette, sources in the irrigation department said. Mission Bhagiratha requires 32.43 tmc ft from the Krishna basin and 53.68 tmc ft from the the Godavari basin.

The other issue that is worrying the government is the Centre bringing Osmansagar and Himayatsagar, the twin reservoirs, meeting drinking water needs of Hyderabad, under the KRMB. The government will have to seek the KRMB's permission to utilise water from the two reservoirs.

Since the gazette will come into force from October 14, the government is exploring all options to utilise the time to exert pressure on the Centre to exclude Mission Bhagiratha and the city’s two lakes from the KRMB domain.