'River board acting blind to AP's excess use of Krishna water'
Hyderabad: Telangana has raised the prospect of a possible one-sided approach by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), by questioning its silence on Andhra Pradesh’s action on using water from Krishna river illegally, and also on not telling AP to stop levelling “misleading allegations” against Telangana’s projects on the river.
Telangana said that though it repeatedly took to the board’s notice the repeated violations by Andhra Pradesh, and “despite the repeated requests and detailed representations” regarding “the unauthorised constructions and capacity expansions” by Andhra Pradesh, “no action has been initiated either by the KRMB or the Union of India.”
In a seven page letter to the KRMB, Telangana’s irrigation engineer-in-chief (general) O.V. Ramesh Babu told the board that contrary to allegations levelled by AP, it was AP which was taking up new projects, expanding existing ones, and drawing water from the river without any appraisals, or the board’s approval.
Taking serious objection to the inaction by the KRMB, Telangana, referring to a January 6, 2026, letter to the Centre by the board, said, “however, in striking contrast, KRMB has now addressed a communication to Union of India… raising objections to the projects of the state of Telangana which appears wholly untenable and misplaced.”
Ramesh Babu, in the letter, made it clear that Telangana had not undertaken construction of any new projects and was only “legitimately seeking project-wise allocations by placing its existing, ongoing and contemplated projects” before the Krishna Waters Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II).
But, in “stark contrast, Andhra Pradesh has consistently resorted to clandestine diversion of waters outside the basin through the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator, while suppressing material facts even before the KWDT-II,” he told the board. He further said that AP had kept from the KWDT-II the orders it had issued and “constructed a new regulator of 10 gates at Pothireddypadu to enhance its drawing capacity to 44,000 cusecs of water, which in fact can draw up to 1,56,100 cusecs.”
Leaving nothing to the imagination in terms of KRMBs’ attitude towards Telangana, the letter said, “it is regrettable that KRMB has not intervened in a timely manner to address the unauthorised projects and capacity enhancements” by Andhra Pradesh, and “instead reacted only to the allegations raised by AP” against Telangana’s projects.
Infograph
Telangana’s charges against AP
Project: Excess water use by AP (in tmc ft)
Second crop water under Telugu Ganga project: 15
Handri-Neeva Srujala Sravanthi extension: 6
Second crop water under HNSS: 28
Addl water for minor irrigation, drinking water, industrial needs: 20.69
Addl water under Veligonda project: 2.66
Second crop water under Galeru Nagari Srujala Sravanthi: 26.6
Varikapudisala scheme: 7.867
Nagarjunasagar right canal (NSRC) extension: 78
Gundlakamma, Musi, Palair reservoirs from NSRC: 20
Guntur channel addl ayacut: 1.3
Srisailam right branch canal (SRBC) extension: 15
Second crop addl water from SRBC – 19
Tungabhadra parallel high level canal: 25
Siddhapuram lift irrigation scheme: 2
Vedavathi lift irrigation scheme: 8.29
