VIJAYAWADA: Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi again on Wednesday, seeking his intervention to end the water dispute between the two Telugu states. This is his second letter to Modi in a week.
Jagan said Telangana state was going against the provisions of AP Reorganisation Act and the agreements reached between the two states on inter-state water sharing. He said the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has “not been effective in discharging its duties and is not acting in the manner in which it is expected to when it comes to protecting the legitimate interests of Andhra Pradesh”.
Jagan listed Telangana’s projects, including Palamuru Ranga Reddy lift to draw 90 tmcft, Dindi lift to draw 30 tmcft and increasing the capacity of Kalwakurthy lift to draw 40 tmcft, and stated that they were all aimed at drawing 3 tmcft of water per day in excess of the allocated share. In addition to this, Telangana is also drawing 4 tmcft per day for power generation, he alleged.
He said AP “is left with no option but to go for Rayalaseema lift scheme to supplement 3 tmcft per day to the existing projects of Telugu Ganga, Srisailam right bank canal, Galeru Nagari Sujala Sravanthi and drinking water to Chennai. Stating that the projects in AP are “legitimate schemes having all approvals and allocation of waters by KWDT-I”, the CM said the state is “neither creating any new ayacut nor any new canal nor any new storage under the Rayalaseema lift scheme”.
‘Unauthorised use depriving AP of its share’
He regretted that despite AP complaining and presenting the facts on the “illegal projects”, Telangana government is unauthorisedly using the river water and “violating all established norms, principles and procedures in vogue on utilisation of river waters”. He added it is being done by Telangana with the intention of putting AP in distress by depriving its due share of water.
While asking the PM to prevail upon Telangana to stop indiscriminate use of water for power generation, the chief minister urged the Centre that the “jurisdiction of KRMB be notified immediately and all the off-takes which include water for irrigation, power and drinking water on common reservoirs of both the states be kept under the control of KRMB with Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) protection for effective operation and maintenance”.
