TS writes to KRMB; seeks full board meeting after July 20

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government on Monday wrote to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) seeking to convene a full meeting of the board after July 20 instead of the three-member committee meeting scheduled to be held on July 9. The government stated that the technical teams in Telangana state were busy with management of irrigation schemes due to commencement of the kharif season.

Meanwhile, the TS government filed a petition with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) again on Monday against the AP government as the earlier contempt case against AP would be coming up for hearing on July 12.

The petition alleged that the AP government was working on the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS) though the NGT had ordered on October 29, 2020, to stop the project works until AP secures the requisite approvals. It urged the NGT to initiate action against the AP government and SPML Infra Ltd for wilful violation of the NGT orders by taking up RLIS works.

In his letter to KRMB chairman, irrigation special chief secretary Rajat Kumar expressed objection over the board member secretary mentioning discussion only on issues raised by Andhra Pradesh over utilisation of Krishna river waters in the July 9 meeting. He said several critical issues raised by Telangana state were not taken into consideration for discussion.

He said the TS government had sought discussion on revision of the water sharing ratio of Krishna river for the current water year, and steps to stop construction of the “illegal  RLIS and Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (RDS) right canal by Andhra Pradesh immediately. The TS government also sought discussion on granting of additional Krishna water share of 45 tmc ft to Telangana subsequent to the clearance of Polavaram project by the Central Water Commission as per the terms of the Bachawat award, reckoning 20 pe rcent of total water drawn as usage towards drinking water supply, and appropriate accounting of savings by Telangana out of water releases ordered by the KRMB.

Further, Rajat Kumar stated that the Srisailam project was sanctioned by the Planning Commission in 1963 as a hydro-electric project (HEP) for supplying water to Nagarjunasagar project by power generation. The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT)-I also held this as HEP without envisaging diversion of water to another watershed. “Srisailam project
being an HEP for generating power without diverting water to another watershed does not involve consumptive use of water except for evaporation loss,” he cited the extract of KWDT-I.

Rajat Kumar pointed out that water supply systems in the state were predominantly dependent on lift irrigation schemes requiring huge energy inputs during kharif season. Considering a severe power exigency in the state, he stated that power generation at Srisailam would ensure the transmission of sufficient waters to Nagarjunasagar project which is critical for meeting the needs of agricultural and drinking water needs in Telangana. Under these circumstances, he stated that the Telangana government was constrained to reject the requests of AP to stop power generation from Srisailam.