TS objects AP\'s diversion, demands 50:50 sharing

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government on Thursday raised an objection to the alleged illegal diversion of Krishna river water to Rayalaseema, located outside the river basin, by Andhra Pradesh.

The TS government dashed off a letter to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) seeking allocation of Krishna water in the ratio of 50:50 (405.5 tmc ft each out of total 811 tmc) from this water year (2021-22), with Andhra Pradesh.
In a letter to the KRMB chairman, Telangana engineer-in-chief C. Muralidhar said, "Telangana has not received any requisition from KRMB for water releases from the Pothireddypadu head regulator. Hence, AP is conveniently trying to seek permission though it is actually diverting water."

The TS government urged KRMB to stop AP from drawing Krishna water without the consent of the board and restrain AP from diverting Krishna water outside the basin before meeting in-basin needs fully.

The TS government said it has no objection if AP produces hydel power at Srisailam. It sought permission to produce hydel power up to 100 per cent of installed capacity at Srisailam, Nagarjunasagar and Pulichintala since the projects were receiving heavy inflows.

The three-member committee of KRMB or its full board meeting decides water sharing between the two states every year. However, this year the meeting was not held, even though projects on Krishna are overflowing.

To streamline water-sharing between the states, the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT-1) was set up in 1969, in keeping with the Inter-State River Dispute Act, 1956. In 1976, the states entered into an agreement to divide the estimated 2,060 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) of Krishna water into three parts — 560 tmc feet for Maharashtra, 700 for Karnataka, and roughly 800 for the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

Post-bifurcation, the two Telugu states agreed to split water on a temporary basis in a 66:34 ratio. Of the total 811 tmc feet allotted to the combined AP state, Telangana would receive about 299 tmc feet of water.

Both states are now demanding that the KWDT-2 reallocate Krishna water among four states instead of the earlier three as Andhra Pradesh has been bifurcated.