The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has put off the decisions over shifting of the board office to Vijayawada/Amaravati, as was being demanded by Andhra Pradesh, following the AP’s indecision over the location of the board headquarters and also the use of water during the flood period by the member States.
However, the board meeting held here on Thursday has allowed the two States to continue sharing the Krishna waters in the 66 (AP):34 (TS) ratio as agreed by them in the past. A three-member committee meeting that followed the board meeting has allocated 220 tmc of water for irrigation and drinking water needs of the two States till May-end.
The meeting chaired by R.K. Gupta was attended by Chief Secretary (Telangana) Somesh Kumar, who also handles the irrigation portfolio, Special Chief Secretary (water resources) of AP Aditya Nath Das, two Engineers-in-Chief and other officials. According to the officials, Telangana would get 140 tmc ft and AP would get 80 tmc ft out of the total allocation of 220 tmc ft. As per the board statistics, AP has utilised 511 tmc ft and Telangana has availed 158 tmc ft water so far this water year starting from June 1, 2019.
Outstanding issues
The board has decided to take the issue to the notice of shifting the board’s office to AP to the notice of the Union Water Resources Ministry, now known as Jal Shakti, during the meeting organised by it on January 21 with the two States towards resolving the outstanding issues and disputes. The issue of shifting the board office has been in the KRMB agenda during the last four meetings. When it came up for discussion in Thursday’s meeting, the Telangana officials were said to have sought to know from their AP counterparts as to where the board’s office would be located. However, the AP side did not specify the planned location of board in the backdrop of the AP’s plans to shift its capital.
The board has avoided a decision on the utilisation of water during the flood period stating that it would take a view at the end of the water year. In the meantime, the board is understood to be planning to take the matter to the notice of the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Jal Shakti Ministry.
Telangana complains
The issue of excess drawal was raised by Telangana but the AP side justified it stating that it had only availed flood water that would, otherwise, go waste into the sea.
When the AP side wanted the board to direct Telangana to remove four sluices on Nagarjunasagar Left Canal before the inter-state boundary to allow free flow of water into AP, Telangana officials were learnt to have objected to it stating that it was an arrangement made during the combined AP Government to ensure reach of water to 20,000 acres in the tail-end areas in Telangana.
