Hyderabad: With TS and AP representatives insisting on a major share of the available waters, the three-member technical committee of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), which met here on Wednesday, could not take a decision on release of water for Rabi season and drinking to the two states.
Board member-secretary Samir Chatterjee presided over the technical committee meeting that was attended by engineers-in-chief C. Muralidhar (TS) and M. Venkateswara Rao (AP).
An estimated 130 tmc ft of water is available in Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam. TS wants 101 tmc ft of this while AP claims 130 tmc ft, totalling 230 tmc.
When Mr Chatterjee asked the two sides to sort out the issue so that orders could be released, they argued for a major share for their projects.
AP contended that during Khariff TS had diverted around 90 tmc ft to its minor irrigation tanks and wasn’t willing to give details of how this water was utilised.
The TS representative argued that AP had used around 130 tmc ft excess water through the Pothireddypadu, Handri-Neva and Pulichintala projects and said it was not accounting for this.
Mr Chatterjee then said it was not possible to take any decision. It was decided to meet again in two to three days.
After the technical committee meeting Mr Chatterjee told DC that he would hold another meeting but before that, he would speak to the Secretaries of both the governments and try to work out a deal between the two states.
Mr Chatterjee said that when the TS government demanded a share in the Godavari waters drawn through Pattiseema project to Krishna basin, AP had objected to it. Since this matter is pending with the Central government, as such, the issue couldn’t be decided in the meeting.
