HYDERABAD: Telangana Engineer-in-Chief (General) OV Ramesh Babu has requested the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to restrain Andhra Pradesh from undertaking any new projects, expansions or drawals of water without due appraisal, recommendation and approval of the KRMB and the Apex Council in accordance with the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, until KWDT-II finalises the water share.
The ENC, in a letter to the board, also requested it to advise AP to desist from making misleading allegations against the projects of Telangana intended to serve drought- prone and backward riparian areas, as these issues have already been addressed before KRMB, the Apex Council and KWDT-II.
The ENC informed the Board that AP was trying to divert 176.457 tmcft to irrigate 6,30,882 hectares of ayacut in Guntur, Prakasam, Kurnool and Kadapa districts, all located outside the Krishna river basin.
Ramesh Babu said that AP is further planning to increase the scope of HNSS, GNSS and TGP to an extent of 114.75 tmcft for use outside the basin.
The Telangana official informed the board that these projects of AP involving large-scale diversions of Krishna river waters to outside the basin would prejudice the water requirements of the Krishna basin areas of Telangana, which are critically dependent on the Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar reservoirs.
“The KWDT-I held that while making allocation to future projects — projects taken up after September 1960 — more weightage may be given to the projects serving inside the basin,” Ramesh Babu recalled.
He said that KWDT-II observed that “no doubt Andhra Pradesh is already utilising about 43% of its allocation outside the basin, return flows of which are a total loss to the Krishna basin”.
The Union Minister, at the Apex Council meeting held in October, 2020, mentioned that “inter-basin transfer can be done only after fulfilling the needs of the in-basin first”, Ramesh Babu said and opposed Andhra Pradesh’s plans to divert Krishna waters to outside the basin.