Krishna water row hotting up as AP demands CISF deployment

Visakhapatnam The tug of war between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over sharing of Krishna river waters took a new twist with both the States accusing each other of violating the orders issued by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).

Though the running feud among the two States after carving out of Telangana in 2014 is not new, during the past few days due to escalation of tension, police forces have been deployed at the inter-State projects by the respective governments.

Even as the water war is continuing, Opposition parties in both the States accuse both Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao and his AP counterpart Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy of indulging in 'political opportunism.' to divert public attention from their real issues.

While AP accused Telangana of drawing water in excess of the allotted 299 tmcft for its hydel power projects, Telangana alleged that AP was going ahead with the construction of Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project ignoring the orders issued by the National Green Tribunal.

Both the States have sought the intervention of the Centre for an amicable solution. In a related development, Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote separate letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to notify the jurisdiction of KRMB and deploy CISF at the project sites located in the border areas. Reddy pointed out that the Telangana Government had issued an order recently asking the Energy Department to generate power by ensuring 100 percent installed capacity. Reddy said this meant that Telangana would draw four, three and 1.8 tmc water per day to generate power respectively from Srisailam, Nagarjuna and Pulichintala projects.

After the formation of AP into two States, a working arrangement was reached to share Krishna waters. Out of 811 tmc allocated by Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal-I (KWDT-I), a certain ratio was agreed upon by both the States for sharing the available water pending award by KWDT-II.

Even as the tussle over Krishna waters between the political leadership is hotting up, Telangana PCC president Revanth Reddy described the war of words between Telangana and AP as a 'drama' and AP TDP president K. Atchan Naidu described it as diversionary tactics by Jagan Mohan Reddy and his friend Chandrasekhara Rao from real issues during the pandemic.