Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote a letter on Monday to Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekawat to prevail upon the Telangana state government to stop indiscriminate drawing of water solely for power generation from projects on the Krishna and direct the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to be neutral in its functioning.
The Chief Minister, in his letter, said the TS government continued to blatantly violate the provision of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, with utter disregard to operational protocols and directions of the KRMB. It was causing a lot of distress to AP and even depriving it of its rightful share of water, he said, adding that the neighbouring state was wasting precious water by releasing it into the Bay of Bengal.
The Chief Minister said the TS government was not allowing water levels to be built up in the Srisailam reservoir and utilised 19 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) for power generation out of 26 tmc ft of inflows from June 1 onwards. He expressed concern by saying that in view of this adamant attitude, water level to reach 854 feet in the reservoir seems to be a Herculean task even though it was essential for drawing water through gravity for schemes dependent on Pothireddypadu head regulator. He pointed out that this would cause severe distress to the chronically drought-prone Rayalaseema, Nellore and Prakasam districts and also Chennai city as they depended upon Srisailam reservoir for their drinking water and irrigation needs.
The Chief Minister also alleged that the TS government continued to unilaterally operate hydel power generation from Nagarjunasagar project without placing an indent before the KRMB in violation of the protocol for water drawing and pointed out how water was being drawn from Pulichintala project for power generation with no indent raised by the competent authority and without taking any release orders from the KRMB.
Jagan Mohan Reddy mentioned that the intention of the TS government was to deprive AP of its due share of allocated water as the drawing of water would be delayed considerably and the water was being wasted into the sea. He asked the union minister to direct the KRMB to account for all the unauthorised drawings by the TS government against the agreed allocations of 299 tmc ft.
He complained on how the TS government started construction of new projects of Palamuru-Ranga Reddy and Dindi lift irrigation scheme and enhancing scope of Kalwakurthy LIS and drawal of four tmc ft of water for power generation at 796 ft level. He alleged that the KRMB had been showing discriminatory attitude towards AP while acting swiftly on the false complaints lodged by the TS government.
The Chief Minister said against this backdrop, AP was left with no option but to go for Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme to supplement three tmc ft of water per day to the existing projects from the level of 800 ft and made it clear that all the projects including TGP, SRBC, GNSS, and drinking water supply to Chennai city, were being taken up in AP territory and were legitimate schemes having all approvals and also mentioned in 11th schedule of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
He asked the union minister to direct the KRMB to visit the sites of unauthorised projects under execution by the TS government before visiting Rayalaseema lift irrigation scheme site. He requested that the jurisdiction of the KRMB may be notified and all the offtakes which include water for irrigation, power and drinking water on common reservations may be kept under the control of the KRMB with CISF security for effective operation and maintenance in the interests of both the states.
