Irrigation minister T Harish Rao on Tuesday lodged a complaint with Union water resources minister Uma Bharti against the Andhra Pradesh government on sharing of Krishna river waters.
In a memorandum submitted to Uma Bharti in Delhi, Harish Rao alleged that in the absence of telemetry system at irrigation projects there was no clarity on how much water is being used by the AP government, especially from Pothireddipadu.
Harish Rao wanted the Union minister to call for an Apex Council meeting for resolving the disputes between the AP and TS. The Apex Council was constituted by the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. The Union water resources minister and chief ministers of both AP and TS are the members of the Apex Council.
In his complaint, Harish Rao alleged that the AP was diverting huge quantity of water through Pattiseema and Pothireddypadu. AP was submitting false reports on usage of Krishna and Godavari waters, Harish Rao alleged.
There should be a perfect mechanism on the inflows and outflows at various projects, he said and wanted Uma Bharti to set up a joint supervisory committee on irrigation projects with the officials of AP and TS till the telemetry system was launched.
Harish Rao also informed the Union minister that Brijesh Kumar Tribunal was yet to finalise the share of various states in Krishna waters. The AP and TS had been sharing Krishna waters through a temporary arrangement in the last two years.
Harish Rao urged the Union Minister to discuss about the injustice done to TS in river waters, the AP’s diversion of Krishna water through Pothireddypadu, the Pattiseema project by AP and other issues in the Apex Council meeting.
Later Harish Rao called on Union commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman and requested her to sanction `65 crore for the construction of five cold storages in the state. He also wanted Sitharaman to modernise Gudimalkapur, Vanit Mamidi, Boinpally, Warangal vegetable markets.
The minister also met transport minister Nitin Gadkari and urged him to release funds for maintenance of Hyderabad-Mumbai national highway.
He also called on Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh and requested him to open purchasing centres.