The Krishna River Water Management Board will convene a meeting of irrigation officials of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments here on Monday or Tuesday to resolve the dispute between the two States over power generation by Telangana from the Srisailam project.
Following a meeting with KRWMB Chairman S.K.G. Pandit, Andhra Pradesh Major Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheshwara Rao said that Principal Secretaries, Secretaries and other officials would attend the meeting. He added that the government orders and various operational rules would be looked into, and fresh guidelines would be issued to resolve any dispute that arises between the two States amicably.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu also asked Mr. Pandit to ensure that the Telangana government complied with the board’s orders when the latter met him. The Chairman reportedly informed Mr. Naidu that the Telangana government had stated that the generation at the SLBC had come down, and that the Minimum Draw Down Level was being maintained. He promised Mr. Naidu that the board would react if the Telangana government again resumed power generation from the SLBC.
Sources in the Andhra Pradesh government said that the Board had written a fresh letter to the Telangana government on Friday, pointing out that irrigation and drinking water needs were the top priority, and that power was secondary. It also wanted Telangana to comply with the earlier orders.
Meanwhile, Mr. Umamashwara Rao said the Andhra Pradesh government would release Rs. 40 crore on Saturday towards the rehabilitation and resettlement of people from submerged villages under the Pulichintala project. The Telangana government had earlier demanded that the AP government immediately release Rs. 40 crore and said it did not have objection to store 20 tmcft if the R & R package was paid.
The AP government had recently objected to power generation from the Srisailam Left Bank Canal and urged the Telangana government to stop it to meet the future requirements of Rayalaseema. Rejecting Andhra Pradesh’s contention, Telangana Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao had then said that power was needed to save standing crops. He, however, added that the request of AP would be considered if it agreed to supply 350 MW to offset the loss owing to stoppage of generation at the SLBC.
The Andhra Pradesh government later took up the issue with the board, contending that Telangana was violating orders and going ahead with power generation.
