Hyderabad: The Krishna River Management Board on Wednesday told TS and AP to continue with the sharing of water as per the Bachawat Tribunal, at least till the next one month during which period the two states would have to try and sort out all outstanding issues.
The KRMB’s decision came at a meeting convened by Union ministry of water resources in New Delhi on June 21 and 22 where the two states failed to reach a consensus over the sharing of water.
As per the Bachawat Tribunal, AP gets 512 tmc ft of water and TS 299 tmc ft of the total allocation of 811 tmc ft. The KRMB also said that in case the two states fail to reach an understanding, it will decide on the future course of action.
In another development, TS irrigation minister T. Harish Rao and his AP counterpart Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao met Union minister for water resources Uma Bharathi and also special secretary, ministry of water resources Amarjit Singh and discussed the issue.
The TS government has opposed the KRMB draft notification taking control of irrigation projects in both AP and Telangana states, saying that Board has no such powers barring regulating sharing of water.
TS insists that the Board awaits the decision of the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal which is scheduled to meet on July 8. In all, the TS government is seeking 402 tmc ft, including its original share of 299 tmc ft, another 45 tmc ft as its share in the Polavaram project, another 45 tmc ft as its share in the Pattiseema project and 13 tmc ft as allocation against additional drawal by AP last year.
However, AP has rejected TS demands and has been insisting that all irrigation projects under Krishna basin are brought under the purview of the KRMB.
AP also rejected the TS demand of having a share in Polavaram and Pattiseema, saying Godavari waters cannot be decided by KRMB.
AP also informed the KRMB that in case it fails to issue notification taking control of irrigation projects, it be allowed control of Nagarjunasagar Left Bank canal head regulator and other irrigation projects in its territory and let TS control projects in its territory.
