Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the sudden agreement between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to hand over the operation and maintenance of inter-state irrigation projects of Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar to the union government controlled Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has triggered a political storm.
Invoking the plank of ‘Telangana pride’, the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has accused the Congress government of ‘mortgaging’ the interests of the state by signing the agreement.
Handing over these projects to the central government without finalizing the share of Krishna river water between the two states would prove detrimental to the interests of Telangana, senior BRS leader and former Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao said.
Seven years after Andhra Pradesh's bifurcation, The Union government had, in 2021, notified the jurisdiction of KRMB and Godavari River Management Board (GRMB), for administration, regulation, maintenance and operation of projects in Godavari and Krishna river basins respectively. There are 36 projects in Krishna basin and 71 in Godavari basin that were supposed to come under the control of KRMB and GRMB respectively.
However the notifications could not be implemented due to the objections raised by Telangana. Such notification of the river boards jurisdiction, as part of AP reorganisation Act, has been a constant demand of the Andhra government. From October 14, 2021 onwards, the KRMB and GRMB were to have control over the operations and maintenance of the common reservoirs in both Krishna and Godavari basins.
Since the bifurcation, the two sibling Telugu have been at loggerheads over the sharing of water from the Krishna river. Telangana advocates for a 50:50 river water sharing arrangement, while Andhra Pradesh denies this. It cites the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014, which allocates the state around 512 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) out of the total 811 tmcft.
The KRMB would be assisted by engineers and other staff members to be deputed by both the states for operation and maintenance of the two irrigation projects, said a senior official of Telangana irrigation department.
“With this agreement, from now, Telangana would not be able to draw even a drop from the projects without the consent of KRMB. We would not be able to claim our own share of water even during emergencies in summer without the approval of the Union government controlled Board,” Harish Rao said.
On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Minister Ambati Rambabu accused the Telangana government of preventing the state from using its rightful share of Krishna waters.
“We have a right to 66 percent of the Krishna waters. But the Telangana government is creating hurdles,” he said, adding that AP had no desire to use even one drop of Telangana’s share of water. He accused the Telangana government of the habit of switching on their hydel stations on the left-bank canal of the Srisailam Project because they were stationed in their territory.
Follow us
