HYDERABAD: Telangana chief secretary SK Joshi wrote a letter to Union water resources ministry secretary Upendra Prasad Singh on Friday, seeking installation and commissioning of tamper-proof telemetry system at the Srisailam project on Krishna river.
Joshi, who is also the state’s special chief secretary (irrigation), brought to the notice of the Union secretary the non-implementation of decisions taken by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) at the meeting chaired by the then secretary to the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation held on June 21 and 22 in 2016. Joshi recalled that the said meeting decided to instal telemetry system on priority in respect of Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar systems within two months. Irrigation minister T Harish Rao also addressed a letter to the Union water resources minister recently, the chief secretary said.
“As Krishna river forms a common boundary between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for a substantial portion, it is necessary that a transparent, robust telemetry/data acquisition system at various places of drawing water is set up for proper accounting between the two states. “As considerable delay has taken place, I request you to instruct the officials concerned of Central Water Commission (CWC)/KRMB for installation and commissioning of a tamper-proof telemetry system,” Joshi said in his letter.
PLEA TO KARNATAKA
In another letter written to Rakesh Singh, principal secretary in the department of water resources of Karnataka government, the Telangana chief secretary sought release of 2 tmcft of Krishna water from Narayanapur to Jurala for drinking water needs in summer. “In view of the current adverse weather conditions in Telangana, we request you to release 2 tmcft of water from Narayanapur to Jurala for drinking water purpose and meeting other requirements of the areas concerned in Telangana,” said Joshi.