TS writes to Tungabhadra board for action against ap
NAVEENA GHANATE
Hyderabad
Telangana State has written to the Tungabhadra Board complaining that Andhra Pradesh had diverted Krishna (Srisailam) water to K.C. (Kurnool Cuddapah) Canal and Tungabhadra (KCC, LLC) water to High Level Canal “in clear violation of the KWDT Award and it needs to be stopped immediately”.
In its letter, Telangana objected to Andhra Pradesh’s actions to usurp more water than allowed under the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-1 &2 Awards.
The KWDT-1 Award stipulated that KC Canal, Tungabhadra Right Bank High Level Canal and Tungabhadra Right Bank Low Level Canal shall use Tungabhadra water only from Tungabhadra Dam. But AP had been utilising Krishna water to KC Canal. TB RB HLC utilises 81.5% of its allocation outside Krishna basin in the Penna basin. The KWDT-1 and 2 Orders (KWDT-2 Order is yet to be Published) did not allow any more water to outside basin through TB RB HLC. But AP is diverting more water outside basin through TB RB HLC.
In contravention of the Tribunal Awards, AP has been utilising water for K C Canal from Krishna main river from Srisailam and swapping that quantum of water to Tungabhadra Right Bank High Level Canal from Tungabhadra Dam. Telangana has objected to that swapping as it is in contravention of the Tribunal Award. Although Telangana has addressed letters to Tungabhadra Board and KRMB, its objections were not heeded by the Boards.
Later, in addition to swapping of KC Canal water to TB RB HLC, now Andhra Pradesh proposed to swap TB RB Low Level Canal water to TB RB HLC, again in contravention of the Tribunal Award.
Noticeably, TB RB LLC has been already utilising its entitled prorata share from the Tungabhadra Dam and additionally using Tungabhadra River water for the same ayacut from the unauthorised Guru Raghavendra Lift Irrigation Schemes, thereby jeopardising Telangana interests at RDS, Srisailam, and Nagarjunasagar projects.
