TS twisting facts, say farmer leaders

“Quantity of water available in the Krishna has never been uniform.”

: Telangana leaders are trying to provoke regional rivalries by confusing the people with figures of the quantity of water available in the Krishna and Godavari rivers, alleged farmers’ association leaders.

Andhra Pradesh Rythanga Samakya president and former Drainage Board office-bearer Yerneni Nagendranath and A.P. Intellectuals’ Forum president Chalasani Srinivas said Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was misleading the people by claiming that an average 1,000 cusecs was available a year in the Krishna River.

The statistics

According to figures of water available in Krishna over the past 30 years, the average amount of water available per year was 1,010 tmcft, but the frequency was not uniform.

While the average amount of water available in 15 years was 1,475 tmcft, the water availability ranged between 600 and 1,000 tmcft, for eight years.

The average water available in these eight years was only 773 tmcft.

The average water available for the remaining seven years was just 396 tmcft. In the 30 years for which data was available, only 525 tmcft has been released into the Bay of Bengal from the Krishna River.

Wide variations

With such variation in flow, the building of irrigation projects that would use up water in the upper reaches would spell doom to the farmers in lower riparian States, the leaders said.

In future the completion of projects like Koyna, Almatti and Tungabhadra being taken up by Maharashtra, and Karnataka would reduce the availability of water for the lower riparian states by 300 tmcft.

There will be little or no water available for the lower riparian states, the leaders warned.

Telangana was planning irrigation projects on both the Krishna and the Godavari to tap 1,000 tmcft and irrigate one crore acres.

The leaders felt that unless arguments were put forward more forcefully, Andhra Pradesh would lose out in the water war with the sibling Telugu State. They urged the State government to put together a strong team of irrigation experts and lawyers to fight the State’s case.

Carryover system

Telangana, according to the Bhachwat Tribunal Award, was only entitled to 173 tmcft of Krishna water, but it was claiming 299 tmcft.

The 90 tmcft the Telangana government was claiming over and above the 299 tmcft was “carryover” water stipulated by the Bachawat Tribunal.

The carryover system was stipulated by Bachawat Tribunal for the Nagarjunasagar project from 1967 and Srisailam from 1983, but it was not being implemented. Under the carryover system, water should be stored in the respective irrigation projects for the benefit of the lower riparian States in advance.