The Telangana government today urged the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to take steps to stop the government of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh from using the waters of the Pothireddipadu Lift Irrigation Project (LIP).
In a letter to the board, Engineer-in-Chief Muralidhar said that the TRS government had "no objection" if AP carried out power generation at the Srisailam reservoir if the Krishna basin water were distributed to each state exactly equally.
"Since the Bachawat Tribunal is conducting an enquiry into the water allocation, AP cannot currently deplete the water of the Pothireddipadu LIP.
I would urge the KRMB to grant permission for maximum power generation at the Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala project sites as the lift irrigation systems and bore-wells need power to function," he stated.
"Our government has no problem if AP starts power generation activities at Srisailam. But I would like to appeal to the board to take measures to stop the state from taking water from the Pothireddipadu project. There is a pressing need to maintain the minimum water level at the project. Water from within the Krishna basin, however, can be used freely," the official added.
The appeal comes after the board recently instructed Telangana to stop all power generation at the Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala project sites following objections from the Jagan government against the same.
Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy had even
written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Jal Shakti ministry appealing to them to stop Telangana from generating electricity at the projects.