Krishna water dispute intensifies

• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has alleged that Telangana is trying to deprive Andhra of its due share of Krishna river water.

• CM has now written to the Centre seeking its intervention in the Krishna river water utilisation row.

Update:

• Andhra Pradesh government has raised following points:

1. operation and maintenance of the Srisailam dam, Pulichintala project and Prakasam barrage are under its purview,
2. NSP and Jurala projects are under the control of Telangana.

About krishna river:

• It is an East-flowing river that originates at Mahabaleshwar
• It flows through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
• Together with its tributaries, it covers 33% of the total area of the four states.

What is the Krishna river dispute

• A dispute over the sharing of Krishna waters has been ongoing for many decades
• Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT) was set up in 1969 under the Inter-State River Water Dispute Act, 1956
• KWDT presented its report in 1973 and divided the 2060 TMC of Krishna water at

• 75 per cent dependability into three parts:

1. 560 TMC for Maharashtra,
2. 700 TMC for Karnataka and
3. 800 TMC for Andhra Pradesh.

• As new grievances arose between the states, second KWDT was instituted in 2004.
• It delivered its report in 2010, which made allocations of the Krishna water at 65 per cent dependability
• In 2014: Telangana was created from Andhra Pradesh
• Andhra Pradesh has since asked that Telangana be included as a separate party at the KWDT and allocation of Krishna waters be reworked among four states, instead of three which has been resisted by maharashtra and karnataka.

Current andhra-Telangana dispute:

• After Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh, the two states agreed to split the water share 66:34 on an ad hoc basis until the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-2 decided the final allocation.
• As per the ratio,andhra’s share was 512 tmcft while Telangana's share was 299 tmcft.
• Krishna River Management Board (KRMB):nautonomous body set up after the bifurcation of the state, to manage and regulate the waters in the Krishna basin.

• Andhra’s contention:

1. Water releases to be regulated by a committee comprising the Engineers-in-Chief of the two States and member-secretary of the KRMB
2. Telangana is drawing water without approval of KRMB
3. Established protocol bars Telangana from drawing water for power generation without the irrigation demands being met first
4. Water that is used for power generation, is being wasted by releasing it into the Bay of Bengal
5. In srisailam, Telangana is drawing water when the storage is 33.39 tmcft, which is well below the Minimum Draw Down Level

• Telangana's contentiton:

1. Telangana has called for a 50:50 allocation of water from the Krishna river.
2. Telangana says it needs the hydel energy to power its Nettempadu, Bheema, Koilsagar and Kalwakurthy lift irrigation projects