AMARAVATI: Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has charged Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) of showing discriminatory attitude towards the interests of Andhra Pradesh by ignoring the state’s genuine complaints against unauthorised irrigation projects initiated by the Telangana government.
In a letter to Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the chief minister said the KRMB, however, has been acting swiftly against “false complaints” against AP. “In spite of our repeated complaints to prevail upon the state of Telangana to stop execution of unauthorised projects without appraisal of DPRs and scrutiny by CWC for approval by the apex council, no effective steps have been taken so far.
However, KRMB has been showing discriminatory attitude against the interests of AP,” Jagan said in the letter.
He urged the Union minister to rein in Telangana from illegally utilising water from Srisailam and Pulichintala projects for generation of hydel power.
“Telangana is not allowing water level to built up at Srisailam as it has already drawn 19 TMC of water out of 26 TMC of inflows since June 1. It would be a Herculean task for the water level to reach 854 ft at Srisailam, which is essential to draw water from Pothireddypadu head regulator by AP for its needs due to the adamant attitude of Telangana. This would cause distress to the chronically drought-prone Rayalaseema region, Prakasam and Nellore districts and Chennai as they are dependent on Srisailam for drinking water and irrigation needs,” the chief minister wrote.
Restrain AP from executing RLIP without EC from Centre, plea urges
Telangana also wrote a letter to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to hold a full board instead of a three-member committee to discuss all the issues pertaining to AP’s irrigation projects, water sharing and issues pertaining to Krishna river. It again urged the KRMB to convene a meeting after July 20 as its officials were busy with kharif season.
The state government also dashed off a letter to the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) on Monday, asking it to be ‘careful’ while considering giving environmental clearance (EC) to the RLIP during its meeting scheduled to be held on July 7.
Chief secretary Somesh Kumar filed the petition in the NGT, charging AP with violating the tribunal’s earlier orders on the RLIP. “Initiate action and pass appropriate orders under sections 26 and 28 of NGT Act, 2010, against the respondent (AP) for wilful violation of the October 29, 2020, order of the tribunal,” he urged the NGT in the petition.
The petition also asked the NGT to restrain AP from executing the RLIP without seeking EC from the Centre and the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB). The CS made the MoEF, Union ministry of jal shakti, chief secretary of AP and KRMB as respondents.
