Telangana Says KRMB Accountable for Possible Drought in State
Telangana said AP had drawn an excess 38 tmc ft this year over and above its allocation.
Hyderabad: The irrigation department has warned the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) that it should not approve any fresh approvals for Andhra Pradesh to continue drawing water from the river as this would result in drought and drinking water crisis in Telangana.
The stark warning was included in the irrigation department’s May 2 letter to the KRMB, following a request from AP on April 29 to allow it to draw 10 tmc ft of water till end of May from Nagarjunasagar.
The KRMB has scheduled a meeting of the two states on Tuesday at its office here to discuss AP’s request, as well as Telangana’s request for using 18 tmc ft of water till July from Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs. The water that can be used from both reservoirs is just around 28 tmc ft.
Telangana said AP had drawn an excess 38 tmc ft this year over and above its allocation. Andhra Pradesh had exhausted its share of water in common reservoirs (Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar)… “At this juncture if water is released to Andhra Pradesh will lead to drinking water crisis and drought conditions in Telangana region,” the irrigation department said in its letter.
It also took note of the fact that the India Meteorological Department had declared the possibility of El Nino this year with severe heat conditions in the coming monsoon season.
Andhra Pradesh had informed the KRMB on April 29 that it needed the 10 tmc ft to fill its drinking water tanks under the Rural Water Supply scheme in Palnadu, Guntur, Bapatla, Prakasam, and Markapuram districts, as well as the summer storage tanks of its public health and municipal engineering department.
However, Telangana in its May 2 letter reiterated its opposition for any fresh drawal permissions to AP – a point it also made in an earlier letter to the Board on March 25 – saying that AP used 771.252 tmc ft (74.23 per cent of the river’s water available for use by both states), and Telangana used 267.733 tmc ft (25.77). Based on the 66:34 ratio of Krishna river water use, this shows that AP has already drawn 38 tmc ft more than its allocation for the year.
Telangana said any available water for drawal now belongs to Telangana and it needed 5 tmc ft from Srisailam reservoir through Kalwakurthy lift irrigation scheme to meet drinking water needs of Mahbubnagar and Nagarkurnool districts, and 13 tmc ft from Nagarjunasagar to meet the drinking water needs of Hyderabad, Nalagonda, Suryapet and Khammam districts during the rest of this summer season.