HYDERABAD: Stating that Telangana shall not recognise the “illegal” expansion of Pothireddypapdu project by the Andhra Pradesh government, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday said that the State would start using 50 per cent of water in the Krishna river — 405.5 tmcft of the 811 tmcft allocated to the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh State — from this year. The Chief Minister outrightly rejected the present Krishna river water share of 66:34 between AP and Telangana. “If necessary, we will battle it out with the Central government for our just share of water in the river,” Rao said.
Speaking at a high-level meeting with Irrigation Department officials at Pragathi Bhavan on Saturday, the Chief Minister said that the expansion of Pothireddypadu project was uncalled for as it had no clearance or water allocation. He recalled that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had issued stay orders on the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project (RLIP), which intended to increase the drawing capacity of the Pothireddypadu project from the present 44,000 cusecs to 88,000 cusecs.
During the high-level meeting, attended by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Special Chief Secretary Irrigation Rajat Kumar and OSD to CM (Irrigation) Sridhar Rao Deshpande, it was decided that the State would fight fiercely to protect its rightful share in the Krishna river. The officials wanted the AP government to use assured waters only for those projects that have been allocated water. “The en bloc allocation of water should not be diverted for illegal projects like Pothireddypadu or RLIP,” they said.