Telangana Won’t Hand Over Srisailam and Sagar Projects to River Board, Says Uttam

Hyderabad: Reiterating that the government is not going to hand over any components in the Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday vowed to secure a larger share of Krishna water for Telangana.

In a high-level review meeting held on Sunday, the minister reiterated the government's commitment to protecting the state's water rights and interests in the Krishna basin with the senior advocates C.S. Vaidyanathan and V Ravinder Rao, advisor Adityanath Das, secretary Rahul Bojja, special secretary Prashant Patil and other legal team members and staff from the irrigation and water resources department.

Vaidyanathan provided an update on various issues before the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) and the Supreme Court. He suggested a way forward to address the ongoing injustices regarding the temporary ad-hoc arrangement made in 2015 for Krishna water allocations between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This arrangement, deemed arbitrary and baseless, was only meant for one year but has been unjustly continued. The meeting resolved to seek an interim revision of the water-sharing ratio to at least 50:50 until final allocations are made.

On the issue of handing over components of the Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP),

Uttam Kumar Reddy reiterated the government's firm stand against any such move.

Supported by a resolution passed in the Legislative Assembly on February 12, 2024, he said the government would not hand over any components of these projects to the KRMB. He asserted that all necessary actions would be taken to safeguard the water rights of Telangana's people in the Krishna basin.

The pending KWDT-II decisions before the Supreme Court were also discussed. Vaidyanathan suggested approaching Maharashtra and Karnataka to resolve issues amicably through dialogue. Endorsing this approach, the minister directed the team to initiate appropriate actions.