TS rejects Krishna Board formula - TeluguPeople.com News

HYDERABAD: The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), which held a meeting with irrigation department officials of Telangana and AP states, suggested a compromise formula to protect the interests of both.

The formula in a nutshell - stop generating power at Srisailam and release water to Rayalaseema to protect the interests of AP farmers; start generating power at Nagarjuna Sagar Project so that Telangana could get required power.

The suggestion was made at the KRMB working group meeting held here Wednesday. Telangana officials, however, were not convinced and sought a full board meeting of KRMB. As a result, now the KRMB meeting will be held again Thursday. However, the same was converted into a working group meeting.

The issue of power generation at Srisailam by Telangana was discussed at length at Wednesday's meeting. Telangana Irrigation officials informed KRMB Chairman SKG Pandit that they were generating power to save standing crops in the State. They informed the Board that they could not purchase or augment power supply immediately.

However, AP officials contended that they require water from Srisailam to save standing crops in 1.3 lakh acres under the SRBC and 1.2 lakh acres under the K-C Canal. At present, only 13 tmc water is available at Srisailam for AP.

When the board proposed its formula, the AP officials said Prakasam barrage was receiving surplus water but that the same would be stopped in next two days.

They said Telangana could start power generation at NSP after the inflows into Prakasam barrage stop. If Telangana immediately starts power generation at NSP, water would go waste into sea, they pointed out.

The KRMB suggested that Telangana could generate power till Nov 2 at Srisailam and start power generation at NSP from the next day. It said till Nov 2, Telangana could generate power at Srisailam by releasing one tmc water daily.

The AP officials informed the same to their State government, which sounded positive on it. However, Telangana officials did not accept it and wanted another KRMB meeting instead of a working group meeting. The KRMB chairman decided to convene the meeting Thursday itself.

Speaking to reporters later, KRMB member-secretary RK Gupta said they discussed several technical issues relating to Krishna and Godavari rivers. 'The discussions are fruitful. The KRMB will announce its decision on Thursday,' Gupta said.