HYDERABAD: Irrigation officials of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were at loggerheads over excess usage of Krishna river waters in the current water year, as TS officials alleged that AP had already used 58.5 tmcft water more than its quota this year.
During a meeting of irrigation engineers at Jala Soudha on Thursday, on the release of Krishna waters for AP and TS for October and November, officials of Telangana alleged that AP drew more water than the actual allocation. However, the AP official disputed this claim.
According to Telangana Irrigation Deputy Chief Engineer GD Narahari Bau, AP drew an excess of 18 tmcft from Pothireddypadu, 8.5 tmcft from KC canal, 11 tmcft from Nagarjuna Sagar Project left canal and 21 tmcft from Krishna Delta System (KDS).
Andhra Pradesh engineers Babu Rao and Manohar Raju disputed Telangana’s argument. The AP officials, however, agreed that AP drew an extra 11 tmcft from the Nagarjuna Sagar left canal. But they did not agree with their Telangana counterparts’ claim of excess usage of water from Pothireddypadu, KC canal and KDS.
Under-reporting
The TS officials argued that though AP used more than its quota of water, they were under-reporting the same. From the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) side, engineers RV Prakash and S Sridhar Kumar were present at the meeting.
As there was no unanimity between the AP and TS officials over the usage of water, KRMB officials finally decided to leave the matter to engineers-in-chief.
The engineers-in-chief will meet on October 15 to discuss the working manual of the Board and also the usage of water by AP and TS.
Meanwhile, the AP and TS officials gave their water indents for agriculture and drinking water needs up to the end of November. AP sought 150 tmcft, while TS wanted the release of 79 tmcft.
According to the KRMB officials, the water release order would be issued on Friday, considering the pending reconciliation of water used by both the States.