The special GO brought out by Andhra Pradesh to draw 80,000 cusecs of Krishna water from Pothireddypadu Head Regulator of Srisailam Reservoir should not be a cause of concern for Telangana as it will be within the quantum of water allocated by the Krishna River Management Board(KRMB), said Nandikotkur MLA Thoguru Arthur on Wednesday.
Reacting to the controversy with regard to State’s proposed withdrawal of additional water from Krishna river, he said it would be only from the flood waters that the river gets for at the most 10 days in a year. The total quantum of allocated water will, however, be within the limits fixed and mutually agreed quantities, he said.
After visiting the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator on Wednesday along with farmers and YSRCP leaders, he thanked the late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for bringing water to the parched Rayalaseema region by developing the capacity to draw 44,000 cusecs, which later was increased to 80,000 cusecs by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, which was a welcome measure as thousands of farmers in Kurnool and Anantapur districts were eagerly waiting for the Krishna waters.
About 8,000 tmc of Krishna water had gone waste into sea last season and the Srisailam gates were lifted eight times to let out flood waters, but Telangana leaders do not talk about it, Mr. Arthur said, and added that Krishna River Management Board was on a regular basis monitoring the quantum of water being utilised in Rayalaseema through the Pothireddypadu.
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao knows the travails of Rayalaseema region farmers, hence he would act sensibly on this issue, he hoped.
