HYDERABAD: The available 83.5 tmcft of Krishna water will be shared between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States in the ratio of 63.13:36.86. The working group of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) comprising KRMB member secretary Samir Chatterjee, engineers of chief (ENCs) of both the states, met at Jala Soudha on Saturday and took a decision to this effect.
Accordingly, water would be released for both the states for the ongoing Kharif operations and also for drinking water needs. The board wanted both the states to discourage farmers from raising wet crops as there was shortage of water in both Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam projects.
In the first spell, Telangana State will get 15 tmcft and Andhra Pradesh will get 36 tmcft water from Nagarjunasagar.
The share of 63.13:36.86 was decided in a meeting in June 2015 in Delhi by both the states. Both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had signed an agreement to this effect before the Union Water Ministry's additional secretary Amarjeet Singh.
The available water for erstwhile Andhra Pradesh was 811 tmc. Presently, Andhra’s share is 512 tmcft and TS' share is 299 tmcft.
It may be recalled that Telangana State wanted a release of 40 tmcft and AP wanted 47 tmcft, which includes drinking water needs of both the states. The demands of both the states put together was 87 tmcft as against the available 83.5 tmcft in Krishna river. As a result, the KRMB which met on Friday, did not take any decision and left the matter to the working group, which met here on Saturday.
Of the total water available, the working group has decided to release 51 tmcft for both the states. Of this, AP will get 36 tmc ftand TS will get 15 tmcft. This is because Andhra Pradesh wanted more water in September for agricultural requirements. TS stated that it requires more water only in October. Accordingly, the working group took a decision on Saturday.