TS to Krishna Board: Treat Irrigation and Power Needs on Par

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has urged the Krishna River Management Board to treat the power requirements of Telangana on a par with the irrigation water requirements of Andhra Pradesh.

In reply to the board’s letter on Tuesday,  Telangana officials sent a reply on Wednesday asserting that the state government had “not violated any orders on generating power and will not do anything which is not for the interest of the people.”

Engineer-in-chief (irrigation) C Muralidhar wrote the letter to RK Gupta, member- secretary of the Krishna River Management Board on Wednesday.

“The power being generated from the Srisailam Reservoir is largely utilised for saving the standing crops in Telangana which depend on electrical supply for operating  pump sets. I have no hesitation in stating that power generation should be treated in terms of priority on a par with irrigation requirements,” the letter said.

The Telangana official lodged a complaint with the board that the Andhra Pradesh government was not providing the due share of power to Telangana as per the provisions of the AP State Reorganisation Act.

Muralidhar wrote the letter in the wake of AP government’s allegation that water was being drawn from the Srisailam reservoir for power generation beyond the normal releases against prevailing orders.

“In the absence of complaint made by AP government, it is not possible to specifically rebut the allegation. However, I take this opportunity on behalf of Telangana government that we have not violated any orders in generating power and will not do anything which is not for the interest of the people,” the Telangana irrigation official said in the letter to Krishna River Management Board.He provided the data on the drawing of water from Srisailam to various projects.