TG govt is battle-ready to claim its share on Krishna, Godavari waters

Hyderabad: The State government has expedited the process to claim Telangana share in river Krishna and Godavari waters. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has asked the officials to prepare a comprehensive report on projects, water sharing, existing GOs and judgments from 2014 to date, memos, government order, DPRs of projects in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and the losses incurred by Telangana in water sharing.

This report will be used for substantiate the effective arguments before the Tribunal and other platforms to protect the interests of Telangana. The government would not consider the decisions of KRMB and GRMB since the Brajesh Kumar Tribunal has not yet completed water sharing between the two States. The Chief Minister advised the officials to present arguments in the Supreme Court that there should be no interference of Godavari and Krishna Boards until the distribution of water shares by the Tribunal is completed.

The CM ordered the Irrigation officials to present effective arguments before the Tribunal without causing any loss to the interests of state. The Irrigation officials and legal experts have been asked to collect required evidence, records and orders and ready to make arguments on behalf of the State government before the Tribunal.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy held a review on irrigation projects with the officials concerned on Saturday .The meeting discussed the availability of irrigation water in the state, pending inter-State disputes over Krishna and Godavari waters and the strategies which needs to be adopted by the state government regarding the distribution of water in the meeting.

As per the AP Reorganisation Act, Brajesh Kumar Tribunal has been entrusted with the responsibility of water sharing between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the project-wise water allocations. So far, the tribunal has only collected opinions and evidence from the State governments. The officials briefed the CM that the two States will present their arguments before the tribunal soon and then the tribunal will take decision and announce the same.

While 70 per cent of the Krishna basin area is located in Telangana, the AP covers only 30 per cent. The Chief Minister instructed the officials to present same facts so that Telangana gets 70 per cent of the water share out of 1,005 tmc of available water from river Krishna.

The Chief Minister reminded that since AP was using 80 tmc of Godavari water for Krishna Delta through Polavaram, 45 tmc of water has been allocated to Telangana upstream of Nagarjuna Sagar in return.

The CM instructed officials to implement the plan and utilise water share through upstream projects.

The CM suggested that the officials pay the entire amount of Rs 12 crore in advance, if necessary, and implement the telemetry system. Later, the AP will reimburse the amount. The Chief Minister instructed officials to obtain the necessary permissions for the Sitarama Project and Sammakka Barrage and to take all the necessary work to irrigate the entire ayacut.