Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has asked the Centre to stop the Krishna River Management Board’s notification to take control of the irrigation structures in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
It has also requested Union minister Uma Bharathi, as chairperson of the Apex Council, to direct KRMB to ensure additional usage of 45 TMC by TS with effect from the water year 2016-2017. The Telangana state and other upper riparian states are entitled to the extra water in view of the AP government’s Patti-seema Lift Irrigation Scheme and the Polava-ram project.
Irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, who led a delegation of members of Parliament to New Delhi, submitted a memorandum to Union water resources minister Uma Bharati on Monday.
He requested Ms Bharati to ensure there was no submergence in the state under the Polavaram project, especially in the temple town of Bhadrachalam, Dummugudem, Manuguru Power Plant and the Singareni Coal Mines.
Krishna board has limits: Telangana
“The Krishna Board can only regulate but has no right to distribute river water. The Board has sent a draft notification on sharing of river waters. The notification is against the law. If the Centre doesn’t take action, we will approach the court,” Mr Harish Rao said after meeting Ms Bharati.
The irrigation minister said 800 TMC of Krishna waters had been allocated to undivided Andhra Pradesh. Out of this, AP’s share was 512 TMC and TS was 299 TMC. Argu-ments are on before the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal over allocations of water, he explained.
“While the arguments are on, the KRMB notification is against the norms,” he asserted. Ms Bharati instructed officials to follow the bi-furcation Act. She asked the TS chief secretary to talk with the Krishna Board.
On Polavaram, Mr Harish Rao said that as per the Bachawat Awa-rd, 45 TMC of Krishna water could be utilised upstream of Nagar-junasagar in lieu of augmentation of 80 TMC of Godavari water into the Krishna basin.
