Krishna water row: Telangana strikes again

The Krishna water row has taken a further twist with the Telengana government shutting down the crest gates of the Nagarjunasagar dam right branch canal.

Telangana irrigation adviser Vidyasagar Rao said that on the advise of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Telangana government had delayed so far to avoid hurdles to farmers of Andhra Pradesh, but their government was unnecessarily picking up a row even after facts were placed before them that they were already overdrawing Krishna water.

The Telengana government accuses Andhra Pradesh of over utilizing waters by 44 TMC, while Andhra Pradesh claims that it still needs 30 TMC of water to save the standing crops under the Nagarjunasagar Right Branch Canal in Guntur and Prakasam districts.

The controversy became compounded last week when the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) decided to wash its hands and refused to intervene in the matter and advised the two governments to settle it among themselves and so did the centre.

Both the states have been asking for more water to save the crops and also for fresh releases from Nagarjunasagar Dam for raising the Rabi crop. Taking into consideration the water situation of the state, on Wednesday, Telangana irrigation minister T. Harish Rao ordered immediate closure of the right-side pen stock of the Nagarjunasagar Dam that supplies waters to the Right Branch Canal through a 90 MW powerhouse after the provocation from Andhra Pradesh of flashing a letter of complaint to the KRMB secretary R.K. Gupta and in turn his reply that the two states should arrive at a water sharing agreement out of the available water, and also account for usage by each state.

Telangana irrigation adviser R. Vijayanagar Rao says AP has already used 370 TMC of Krishna water as against their eligibility of 321 TMC and are refusing to come for talks and furnish details of their usage. The storage level in the Nagarjunasagar dam was 512.8 feet on Wednesday.

AP’s principal secretary for irrigation B. Adityanath Das says there was no official communication about stoppage of water and Telangana government cannot do so unilateral as it will hit the standing crops of the AP farmers. This is the third time since June last that the water sharing in Krishna river has kicked up non-stop row between farmers of Telangana and AP.

AP's main contention is that Telangana was deliberately holding Krishna water though it is not utilizing them as there are no command areas and canals. But Telangana says that AP was giving misinterpretation of being a 'victim' while it was the beneficiary and arbitrarily exploiting the Telangana share of Krishna water.