Jagan Lambasts Telangana Over Krishna Water Row

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today lashed out at the neighbouring state of Telangana for allegedly violating "all existing regulations" of water sharing.

In a letter addressed to Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the CM claimed that AP was losing its rightful share of water due to the "uncooperative" attitude of the Telangana administration.

He told the minister that the Telangana government was producing hydroelectricity by violating all rules and norms, and that power was being generated at the state's Srisailam plant without the permission of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).

Jagan also expressed his displeasure at the KRMB, saying that though the body had been showing its curiosity to inspect AP's Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project, it had shown no similar inclination to take action against the "illegal projects" being constructed in Telangana on the Krishna basin.

The board should first inspect the illegal projects of the Telangana government before visiting the Rayalaseema project. Krishna waters are currently going to waste due to the Telangana administration," the leader asserted.

He also flayed the KCR regime for producing power at the Srisailam plant despite knowing that the water levels at the project reservoir were currently well below 834 feet, and thundered, "The Telangana government has used up 19 TMC of water since June 1 to produce power. It will be impossible for the Srisailam reservoir to reach its full tank level if the state continues its power generation activities. The projects which are dependent on Pothireddypadu will not get water if this continues, which will create major problems for the Rayalaseema, Nellore and Prakasam districts of our state."

Besides writing to Shekhawat, Jagan also wrote to Union Minister of Environment and Forest Prakash Javdekar, urging the latter to grant clearance to the Rayalaseema project. He told the minister that the relevant Detailed Project Report (DPR) had been uploaded to the website of the Central Water Commission on June 30, and informed him that no land was being acquired for the project.