TS complains against Seema project
State secretary writes to river board asking it to stop the work
The Telangana state government on Tuesday lodged a complaint with the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) seeking action to prevent the Andhra Pradesh government from building a lift irrigation scheme that will enhance its capacity to divert water from the Srisailam dam.
The AP government had decided to award tenders to build the Rayalaseema lift scheme and to increase the diversion capacity of the Pothireddypadu head regulator scheme (PRPHRS) to 80,000 cusecs.
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had on Monday said the TS government would take action against the AP decision.
Principal secretary, irrigation and command area development, Rajath Kumar, who was on the management boards of the Krishna and Godavari river from TS, lodged the complaint with the KRMB.
With this complaint it appears that the bonhomie between Mr Rao and AP Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in the last one year is over, as the two states brace for a fight over the Krishna waters.
The dispute was sparked off on May 5 with AP giving a go-ahead for taking up the Rayalaseema lift scheme to draw and utilise 3 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) of water per day from Sangameshwaram to the Srisailam right main canal (SRMC) costing about `3,825 crore. Apart from this, a few more works were proposed which come to `6,829 crore.
Mr Kumar in his letter told the KRMB, “the AP government’s proposed project is illegal and in contravention of section 84 of the AP Reorganisation Act since such projects can be initiated or taken up only with the prior approval of the apex council.”
He complained that with the proposed new projects, AP was trying to enhance the total drawal capacity of water up to 8 tmc ft a day from Srisailam, which would adversely impact the interests of inhabitants of the state.
He said, “Srisailam reservoir being a common project, AP cannot plan or initiate any additional diversion of water without consulting Telangana state.”
The complaint stated: “Telangana is dependent on water from Srisailam reservoir for drinking water to Hyderabad and Mission Bhagiratha scheme in erstwhile Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy districts apart from various irrigation projects under Krishna river” such as the Kalwakurthy, PalamuruRanga Reddy and Dindi lift irrigation schemes and others.
He alleged that the Andhra Pradesh government was resorting to clandestine diversion of water outside the basin, through Pothireddypadu by suppressing the facts before the KRMB.
He further said that Andhra Pradesh had earlier enhanced the diversion capacity of Pothyreddypadu to 44,000 cusecs and created a power channel to divert an additional 5,000 cusecs.
These illegal activities were placed on the record after formation of the Telangana state before the KRMB.