Power, Water War Escalates; Telangana Government to Move SC
HYDERABAD: The ongoing war between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over sharing of power and Krishna river waters intensified further on Friday with the Telangana government deciding to move the Supreme Court on the contentious issues.
Even though the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) stepped in to broker a temporary truce between the two quarrelling States, the Telangana government is preparing a note on moving the apex court on sharing of Krishna waters and power generation from Srisailam reservoir.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at a press briefing after the cabinet meeting on Friday said Telagnana Genco and two discoms had invested Rs 1,050 crore in Krishnapatnam and Hinduja power plants and the share of Telangana from these plants is around 1,422 MW but AP has failed to share the in-firm power produced by Krishnapatnam plant. Sources said KCR had decided to knock the door of the apex court after KRMB asked the TS government to stop power generation at the left bank power house of Srisailam project “in order to protect the rights of the new State on Krishna waters”.
Interestingly, this development took place on a day when KRMB Chairman SKG Pandit, who landed in Hyderabad on Thursday, called on AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday here.
According to sources, the TS government on Friday night stopped generating power in the left bank power house of Srisailam for a while but began producing electricity again, besides starting power generation from Nagarjunasagar dam to meet its growing electricity demand.
Earlier, KRMB Chairman had a separate meeting with AP Irrigation Minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao and Principal Secretary Adityanath Das. According to the AP Irrigation Minister, Pandit had assured the AP government that the board would help resolve the disputes amicably. A meeting with irrigation and power principal secretaries of Telangana and AP would be conducted next week.
The AP government alleged that Telangana was violating the Krishna water distribution norms laid down in GOs 69 and 107. AP argued that TS had no right to generate power from Srisailam project as the water level fell below 885 ft. However, KCR recalled that it was during Naidu’s regime the combined AP issued a GO that water could be drawn up to 779 feet in Srisailam. When YS Rajasekhara Reddy issued another GO increasing the mean draw level of Srisailam up to 854 feet, Naidu opposed the same. “The present level at Srisailam is 857 ft and we can draw water up to 834 ft,” KCR added.