Telangana gets 140tmc ft of Krishna river till May

Hyderabad: The Krishna River Management Board on Thursday said that it had allocated 140 tmc ft water to Telangana state and 84 tmc ft for Andhra Pradesh for use until May 31 this year.

KRMB chairman R.K. Gupta told reporters after a meeting with irrigation department officials from the two states that the board will take to the notice of Central Water Commission the request of Telangana state regarding taking drinking water requirements into consideration.

The state urged the KRMB to consider 20 per cent from the allocations to be allocated to meet drinking water requirements. It also said the board should take into consideration drawal of additional water by AP during the flood season when it makes these allocations.

Since June last year, Andhra Pradesh used 511 tmc ft of water from the river while Telangana state used 158 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet).

Mr Gupta said the meeting discussed the drawal of water by the two states during the flood season last year that witnessed the Krishna river in spate. Though the board was to meet late last year to decide on the allocations, the meeting was postponed following requests from both states. The KRMB is based in Hyderabad while its office as per the bifurcaton Act should be based in AP. A decision on the shifting is to be taken later on this, he said.