HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday demanded the cancellation of the tripartite meeting of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) scheduled to be held on July 9 following the complaint lodged by the Andhra Pradesh government against generation of hydel power by the Telangana state government.
Instead, Rao demanded that the KRMB hold a full-fledged meeting after July 20 and incorporate the issues raised by Telangana state in the agenda of the meeting. The Chief Minister held a meeting with senior officials at Pragathi Bhavan to take stock of the situation arising out of the ongoing Krishna water row with AP.
The CM stated that the AP government's Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS) and Pothrireddypadu were 'illegal projects' which Telangana would never accept. He said RLIS was taken up without any approvals by concerned agencies and without a single drop of water allocations made.
The Chief Minister reiterated that the Telangana state government would continue hydel power generation at projects over Krishna till water levels permitted and no one including the KRMB had the power to ask the Telangana state government to stop it. He rejected the existing Krishna water sharing ratio of 66:34 between Telangana state and AP and demanded that it should be done in the ratio of 50:50.
Out of total 811 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) in the Krishna river allotted to undivided AP, both the states should share 405.5 tmc ft each till Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal delivered its verdict, he said.
The Chief Minister rubbished AP's claims that they were forced to release surplus water into the sea from Prakasam barrage due to Telangana state taking up hydel power generation upstream. He suggested that AP utilise the water to meet the needs in Krishna district and save power charges to be incurred for lifting Godavari water from the Pattiseema project.
TS had a large requirement of power for its lift irrigation projects and Mission Bhagiratha. To meet this demand, generating hydel power was necessary to reduce financial burden as well as pollution since hydel power was considered 51 per cent clean energy. The CM said the Centre too was encouraging states to opt for hydel energy and Telangana state was following suit. He added that 40 per cent of hydel power consumption was for lift irrigation needs.
Chandrashekar Rao said the Telangana state government would go to any extent to protect its justifiable share in the Krishna river. He expressed anger over Bachawat Tribunal failing to deliver a final verdict on Krishna water allocations even though it was constituted 17 years ago.
