Row over Krishna water sharing subisidised for now
HYDERABAD:Indicating that there is light at the end of the tunnel, the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments, which had been in a fresh quarrel with regard to sharing of Krishna waters till the other day buried the hatchet, probably for now.
A day after their series of competitive letters to the Centre complaining against each other over utilisation of Krishna waters, some of the senior officials belonging to the irrigation departments of the two States on Saturday had a preliminary meeting.
They discussed the issue of release of water from the Nagarjuna Sagar dam to its Right Branch Canal to address the irrigation needs of Guntur district. The meeting was reportedly held as per the directive of the Centre.
According to sources, during the meeting, it was decided that both the State governments will ask the Centre to ensure that the allocated water was apportioned properly.
It was further resolved that chief engineers of the two states would meet on Feb 2 to sort out the issue. The meet is expected to set the tone for the meeting of Irrigation principal secretaries of both states in February first week.
AP irrigation minister D Uma Maheswara Rao told reporters that the AP government was expecting a good outcome from the proposed meeting of the chief engineers of the two states. He further said the government was seeking legal opinion to represent its case with the Central Water Commission (CWC) to get its rightful share of waters from the Krishna river.
Stating that his government was informing Krishna River Water Management Board about the development over the water sharing, he said, 'We are considering all options to safeguard our rightful share of water.'
According to him, water from the Sagar dam has to be released for late kharif in February last week to Guntur district and by the end of March to Prakasam district. Similarly, Nalgonda, Khammam and Krishna districts have to get water during the same period for late kharif.
'In the interest of farmers, AP government is trying to come to an agreement with the TS government to resolve the issue amicably,' he said.
News Posted: 1 February, 2015
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