Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have escalated their battle over the Krishna River’s waters in recent days, with Telangana planning half a dozen new irrigation projects as an ‘inevitable consequence’ of Andhra Pradesh grounding a lift irrigation scheme for water needs outside the river basin without permission.
The central issue in the water dispute between the two states is the Andhra Pradesh government’s claim that Telangana is drawing Krishna river water for hydel power generation from the Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar, and Pulichintala projects without obtaining clearances from the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB). The Andhra Pradesh government claims responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the Srisailam and Pulichintala projects, as well as the Prakasam barrage, while Telangana is in charge of the Nagarjuna Sagar and Jurala projects.
The Andhra Pradesh government gave administrative approval for the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS) to lift 3 million cubic feet (tmc ft) of water daily from the Srisailam reservoir and transport it through the Srisailam Right Main Canal (SRMC) to meet the needs of the Rayalaseema region of the state, according to an order issued on May 5 last year. To absorb the additional load, the canal’s carrying capacity was to be increased from 44,000 to 88,000 cusecs. The order’s total estimated value of the works was Rs. 6,829 crores.
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