The Telangana government has resolved not to hand over the projects and components on Krishna and Godavari rivers until Telangana’s share of assured water in the two rivers is finalised.
The government will urge the Centre to bring on board the upper riparian States of Maharashtra and Karnataka under the purview of river management boards to ensure equitable distribution of water among all riparian States. “We are committed to protecting the State’s interests which were severely harmed by the previous BRS government in its close to 10-year tenure,” Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said.
At a press conference, he explained in detail the “previous (BRS) government’s deeds in mortgaging the interests of Telangana” and the Congress government’s efforts to protect the interests of the State. “The Congress government is very clear on its stand on handing over the projects to river management boards only after the assured share of Telangana is finalised. The government has already conveyed its objections relating to the contents of the recent meeting of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB),” he said.
Mr. Revanth Reddy quoted the international river water sharing norms which mandated that the share of the States should be in line with the basin area covered by them. Accordingly, Telangana with 68% basin area should get over 500m tmcft of Krishna water as its share. “But the previous government headed by K. Chandrasekhar Rao accepted just 299 tmcft as Telangana’s share while Andhra Pradesh with just 32% basin area got 511 tmcft,” he said.
The Central government convened a meeting of the two States over division of 811 tmcft on June 18 and 19 of 2015 attended by Mr.Chandrasekhar Rao, then Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao, Irrigation secretary S.K. Joshi and adviser R. Vidyasagar Rao wherein the government agreed on the State’s share of 299 tmcft whereas Telangana should have secured at least half of the available water amounting to 405 tmcft.
He quoted the minutes of the meetings of Union Jal Shakti Ministry as well as Krishna and Godavari river management boards wherein Mr.Chandrasekhar Rao, who was also holding the Irrigation portfolio then, agreed to hand over the project components to river management boards without insisting on the State’s justified share. “The then government conveyed its acceptance to hand over the project components of Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam to KRMB during the XVI (May 27, 2022) and XVII (May 19, 2023) meetings of the KRMB when Mr.Chandrasekhar Rao was the Chief Minister as well as the Irrigation Minister,” he said.
The BRS government had allotted seed money of ₹200 crore each to the two Krishna and Godavari river management boards for maintaining the common projects, Nagarjunasagar and Srisailam. “The allocation was made in the demands for grants of the Irrigation department in the budget of 2023-24 indicating its willingness to hand over the projects to the Central government,” he said.
