From January 2020 to May 2023, Telangana has sent as many as 77 letters objecting to unapproved AP projects
Post Date – 11:30 PM, Wednesday – June 28
Hyderabad: Since its statehood, Telangana has worked tirelessly to meet the challenges of sharing the river with Andhra Pradesh. Deprivation of the right share of waters (mainly in the Krishna Basin) has been a major problem.
It is a strong case for projects that Andhra Pradesh has been trying to move forward without proper approvals. But it increasingly finds it difficult to be heard, let alone take desired action against illegal projects. From January 2020 to May 2023, the state has sent as many as 77 letters opposing unapproved AP programs.
Some of them are issued to the Central Water Board, Jal Shakti Ministry, Environment and Forest Ministry, and even the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).
However, more or less gaps have been left in the actions of relevant agencies. The purpose of most letters is to get the KRMB’s attention.
“Unfortunately, KRMB is unable to prevent Andhra Pradesh from implementing the above works despite receiving so many letters. All these works involving large diversions will seriously affect the demand for Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar reservoirs in the Krishna Basin area of Telangna State.” Engineer C Mularidhar expressed regret in a letter to KRMB chairman.
Andhra Pradesh has undertaken new works of this nature costing over Rs 47,776 crore. A senior official said the projects were designed to expand or add enhancements to existing projects without approval and intended to divert water beyond the Krishna Basin, in violation of the 2014 Andhra Pradesh Restructuring Act.
The nation is appalled at the way AP has ramped up its slowdown on the Srisailam project through the Pothyreddypadu general regulator. The PothireddyPadu Regulator and its canal system were used to divert water beyond the Krishna Basin to supply water for Andhra Pradesh projects against the provisions of the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal No. 1 ruling.
AP has made improvements to the head regulator, canal system and Banakacharla cross regulator complex to expand its towing speed from 15,000 to 44,000 cubic seconds. Then it was further enhanced to 88000 cusecs. Even during the monsoon, when the water level at the Srisailam project falls below 854 feet, the AP does not have the authority to pump more than 2,250 cubic seconds of water, officials said.
Andhra Pradesh strongly opposes unauthorized construction of Joladarasi reservoir with a capacity of 0.8 tmc on Kundu river in Koilkuntla mandal of Andhra Pradesh. KRMB also discussed this issue. The unauthorized construction of a pumping irrigation scheme designed to extract 8 tmc of water from the Kundu River has been a vexing problem in Telangana.
Some new projects, as well as adding new components to existing ones, have been opposed by the state because their implementation would affect its share of waters. Apart from Pothyreddypadu, Rayalaseema Upgrading Irrigation Scheme, SRBC, Guru Raghavendra Project, Veligonda Project and RDS Right Canal are also issues that need to be seriously addressed.
AP has been diverting water under the Galeru Nagari Sujala Sravanthi project to meet irrigation needs beyond the Krishna Basin in violation of the KWDT-I award. It had tried to reallocate 10 TMC regulated discharge water from Tungabhadra Dam to KC Canal to Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS) Canal. Telangana has notified KRMB of such violations. The minutes of the 16th meeting of the KRMB state that this reallocation is in violation of the KWDT-I award.
Andhra Pradesh kept the sluices of RDS anicut open for considerable time to benefit the ayacut under KC canal and Gururaghavendra LIS. This has led to a significant drop in the utilization rate of the RDS Canal in Telangana.
