HYDERABAD: The Telangana Irrigation Department on Tuesday dismissed the demand of the AP government to ascertain the location of all the projects and install telemetry from where the Godavari waters are being diverted by TS to augment the ayacut in Krishna basin. AP had demanded in a letter to KRMB in July that Godavari water that was being diverted by Telangana should be shared between the two States.
However, Telangana Engineer-in-Chief C Muralidhar wrote a letter to Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on Tuesday stating that the “areas proposed to be served in Krishna basin of Telangana by Godavari water are not provided with irrigation facilities by Krishna water, whereas the diversions being made by AP are serving the same areas which are now being supplied with Krishna waters.”
“Therefore there is no question of augmentation of Krishna waters in terms of clause-XIV (B) of Bachawat Tribunal, as the areas proposed to be irrigated by Telangana are not replacing the existing irrigation by Krishna waters are not from out of surplus waters of Godavari. As such, no deduction of shares in Krishna arises and the allegations made by Andhra Pradesh are misleading and incorrect,” he wrote.
He also pointed out that as per the awards, all the States were at liberty to divert their part of Godavari water to any other basin and in lieu thereof no other State can raise for a claim over such diversion. The Krishna basin in TS are not getting Krishna water, whereas, the AP is diverting Krishna water to outside the basin. The TS official also stated that subject to the clearance of Polavaram Project by Central Water Commission to divert 80 tmcft from Godavari to Krishna delta system, the TS had right to get more waters upstream NSP.
“It is pertinent to note that AP did not contemplate any irrigation within Krishna basin upstream of NSP. Whereas, TS is having an ayacut of 25 lakh acres upstream Nagarjuna Sagar within Krishna basin and starving for assured waters for decades for its highly drought prone and fluoride affected areas,” Muralidhar wrote.