The Telangana state government demanded Union water resources ministry to include issues like sharing of Godavari water diverted to the Krishna river at Pattiseema in Andhra Pradesh in the agenda for the Apex Council meeting in Delhi on September 21. This demand was fullfilled by the Union Ministry.
The chief secretaries of the two states were sent communiqué in which Union ministry has set out a five-point agenda for the Apex Council meeting, to be chaired by Union minister Uma Bharathi.
The first item on the agenda is the Telangana government taking up the Palamuru-Ranga Reddy and Dindi lift irrigation projects using water from the Srisailam dam, thereby affecting inflows for the Krishna delta; this has been pointed out by farmers and referred by the Supreme Court to the Apex Council.
The AP government contends that any new irrigation scheme taken up after the appointed day of formation of the new states (June 2, 2014) should secure the necessary permissions and consent from the Krishna River Manag-ement Board as well as from AP. TS claims these projects were approved before bifurcation.
The second item is arriving at a working arrangement for sharing water between the two states. It is not specifically mentioned whether it is for projects on the Krishna or the Godavari. The ad hoc sharing of Krishna waters was agreed upon by both the states last year in the ratio of of 512 tmc ft for AP and 299 tmc ft for TS. This is being extended for this year also.
The third item on the agenda is a transparent mechanism for measuring outflows and inflows at different locations and reservoirs. For this, the KRMB has decided to implement telemetry mechanism at all vantage points in Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar to quantify the outflows to various projects.
The fourth item is a mechanism for replenishment and over/under drawal by the two states in a given water year. For this the KRMB had brought out a few guidelines recently which need to be approved by both states.
The fifth item is principles for sharing Godavari water diverted to Krishna. On this point the meeting is like to get stormy. While AP claims sharing of Godavari waters can be entertained at a later stage when construction of the Polavaram dam is complete, the TS government is arguing that they have a rightful share even in the Godavari waters dive-rted through the Pat-tiseema Lift scheme to the Krishna upstr-eam of Vijayawada.
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BY M. DIVYA SRI
