The Telangana government has filed a complaint against Andhra Pradesh for taking too much water from the Krishna river. The complaint was made to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB). The Engineer-in-Chief of the Irrigation and Command Area Development (CAD) department, C Muralidhar, wrote a letter to the KRMB chairman asking for action to be taken against Andhra Pradesh. He accused them of using more water than they are entitled to and encroaching on Telangana’s share of water in the common reservoirs. The Telangana government wants the KRMB to intervene and tell Andhra Pradesh to stop using Telangana’s share of water from the Krishna river.
Muralidhar explained that Telangana does not have its own offline storages, so it keeps its balance of 18.701 TMC of water in the common reservoir of the Nagarjuna Sagar Project for drinking water and irrigation purposes. However, Andhra Pradesh requested 5 TMC of water from the reservoir for drinking water in July and used Telangana’s share of water. Muralidhar stated that since the reservoir has not received any inflow from the Srisailam project, the water in the reservoir belongs to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh used it against the rules. He also mentioned that Andhra Pradesh had used excess water in the past as well.
Muralidhar asked the KRMB chairman to refer the water sharing issues to the ministry of Jal Shakti. The KRMB operates under the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 and is responsible for the administration, operation, maintenance, and regulation of water in the Krishna Basin. It was established as an autonomous body by the Central government after 7 years. Since 2015, the water in the Krishna basin is shared between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in a ratio of 512:299. The KRMB is under the control of the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) is an autonomous body that was established under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014. It is responsible for managing and regulating the waters in the Krishna Basin in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
