KMRB Meet On Telangana - AP Water Dispute Fails

The Krishna River Water Management Board (KRMB) members concluded today that an alternate approach would be needed to sort out the Telangana - Andhra Pradesh water dispute, when a board meeting on resolving things failed.

A three-member committee of the KRMB held talks with top irrigation officials of the two States and heard their views on the allocation of waters to the States. The discussions were unproductive due to clear conflicts between the two States.

Telangana EMC Muralidhar declined to give waters for drinking through the right canal to Andhra Pradesh as Nagarjuna Sagar was not at the adequate water level. He also suggested conducting a trial run for the Bheema, Nettempadu and Kalwakurthy projects in order to provide irrigation and drinking water to areas affected in the Mahabubnagar district affected by drought. And he also sought the release of drinking water for Hyderabad.

KRMB Secretary Sameer Chattarjee said that no decision on the allocation of waters to either of the States could been taken as both the Nagarjuna Sagar dam and the Srisailam project had inadequate water levels. The Board would hold a key discussion with the irrigation secretaries of the two States to arrive at a consensus, he added.

He also said that a team from the Board would soon conduct a field visit to the projects to initiate the setting up of Data Acquisition Systems (DAS). The team, Chatterjee said, would inspect the canals and the projects to find suitable locations for setting up of the sensors of the systems. This system would enable the recording the facts of waters allotted and used by both the States and thereby help settle the long-pending tussle between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, he concluded.