Telangana has requested the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) one more time to provide data it has sought for on Srisailam project and the water drawal components based on it before convening the next meeting of reservoir management committee (RMC) for formulation of rule curves for the management of Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar projects.
In response to an August 3 letter received from the river board, the Engineer-In-Chief (General) of the Irrigation Department said the board appeared to have misconstrued the request of Telangana calling for certain information — documents and data — pertaining to Srisailam project and the water drawal components based on it as non-cooperation. He stated that Telangana had participated in the RMC meetings and had expressed its views.
He mentioned that in a letter addressed to the river board last month, Telangana had sought copies of the correspondence between the then State Government (erstwhile Andhra Pradesh) and Central Water Commission/Government of India as also documents of CWC/Planning Commission approvals related to Srisailam projects, stating that the documents were not available with Telangana, which, he said, was a direct stakeholder in the project.
The official stressed that the data/information sought was very much essential for Telangana to give its point of view for finalising the rule curves which would have direct effect on the management of Srisailam project.
“Telangana has been repeatedly mentioning that inaction of GOI in ensuring implementation of the Clause-V of the 1977 Inter-State Agreement while clearing Srisailam Right Bank Canal and during the construction of Pothireddypadu Head Regulator. It has resulted in creation of exorbitantly large infrastructure at Srisailam enabling A.P. to divert huge quantity of Krishna waters to outside basin without any authority or clearance”, the ENC pointed out.
He further added: “It’s high time this unauthorised diversion to outside Krishna Basin is fully exposed and certain agreed principles to be formulated before going ahead with finalisation of rule curves”, and requested the board to furnish information/documents/data sought for before convening the next meeting of RMC.
