Ending the stalemate on water issue between the two sibling states, Central Water Commission chairman A B Pandya today directed Telangana to release 4 tmc of water from Nagarjuna Sagar to the downstream Krishna delta over a period of one week beginning tomorrow.
The CWC’s intervention became inevitable after the Telangana government refused to clear the file related to the release of 10 tmc of water to the downstream residual AP as was decided earlier by an official committee constituted to oversee the interstate water releases between the two states.
The committee was given powers to allocate and monitor the water releases in Krishna till the interstate river water monitoring board was constituted by the Government of India under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
Angered by the Telangana government’s action, the Andhra Pradesh government announced the withdrawal of previous power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed between APGenco and discoms of Telangana impacting the power supply.
Earlier in the day, Pandya met the chief secretaries of both the states and also held a joint meeting with the principal secretaries of the irrigation department of the two states before issuing the directions for release of water.
While AP maintained the said quantum of water was meant for drinking water needs in the Krishna downstream areas, the Telangana government claimed it would be diverted for irrigation purposes. In the absence of fresh inflows into the reservoir, the priority goes to the drinking water needs before using for any other purposes.
Pandya would review the situation after the initial release of 4 tmc of water from Nagarjuna Sagar, according to the officials.
