Draw the line: Chandrababu Naidu to Uma Bharati

Hyderabad: AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday wrote to Union water resources minister Uma Bharati requesting her to immediately decide the jurisdiction of the Krishna River Management Board.

In his letter, Mr Naidu objected to Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's letter on water sharing and the KRMB’s rights. He said that Mr Rao’s letter went against the AP Reorganisation Act and that Telangana state was taking advantage of its position as an upper riparian state on the Krishna.

“I have been apprised that the KRMB has communicated the draft notification for jurisdiction of the board as required under Section 87 (1) of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has requested the Centre not to release the notification on the board’s jurisdiction,” he added.

Mr Naidu said Mr Rao’s letter stated that the implementation of Section 87 (1) was dependent upon Sec-tion 89 of the AP Reorganisation Act that deals with the Krishna Basin Disputes Tribunal. He said that even without Section 89, Section 87 (1) should be implemented as per the Act.

Mr Naidu said the KRMB had been directed to release water from Srisailam but the release was delayed from Nagarjunasagar. He said that the Centre was supposed to impose penalty as per the Eleventh Schedule, but its implementation is not possible when the board jurisdiction was not finalised.