Water row: A.P., TS stick to their guns

KRMB full board meeting today to resolve the issue. Irrigation Department officials of both States were locked in arguments over it and intervention by Board Chairman S.K.G. Pandit failed to elicit a positive response from both sides, sources said.

October 30, 2014 12:09 am | Updated November 16, 2021 07:07 pm IST - HYDERABAD:

Neelam Sanjeev Reddy Srisailam Project on Krishna river at Srisailam, in Kurnool District. Photo: G. Ramakrishna

Neelam Sanjeev Reddy Srisailam Project on Krishna river at Srisailam, in Kurnool District. Photo: G. Ramakrishna

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana refused to budge from their stand on generation of power at Srisailam leading to an inconclusive meeting of the Krishna River Management Board here on Wednesday.

The four-hour meeting failed to resolve the issue and the board decided to call for a full board meeting on Thursday to find an amicable settlement to the issue.

Irrigation Department officials of both States were locked in arguments over it and intervention by Board Chairman S.K.G. Pandit failed to elicit a positive response from both sides, sources said.

While A.P. wanted TS to halt power generation completely at Srisailam to maintain the water level for subsequent use, Telangana was going ahead with power generation arguing that the farm sector was in dire need of power to save standing crops. Telangana, sources said, wanted the board to let it continue generation till November 5, but A.P. argued that its interests under the project would suffer if the water level went below 854 ft. A.P. expressed apprehensions that 1.30 lakh acres under Srisailam right bank canal and 1.20 lakh acres under KC canal would go without water if that happened.

As a via media, A.P. officials suggested that Telangana generate power for three days up to November 2 by using one tmcft of water a day. Telangana was also told that it could use a maximum of 3 tmcft for generation out of 13 tmcft available in Srisailam. However, Telangana rejected the proposal and insisted on a full board meeting to end the stalemate. Telangana also did not accept alternative generation at Nagarjunasagar by closing Srisailam power house.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.