Krishna river Row : Confused KRMB refers to Centre as Andhra, Telangana stick to their guns

A crucial meeting convened by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) with officials from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh ended inconclusively on Wednesday, 10 May, as the authorities failed to reach a consensus on sharing the river water.

The board had convened the meeting at the Jala Soudha to discuss river-water sharing and other allied issues.

In spite of discussing the matter in detail, officials could not arrive at a conclusion on sharing the water between the two Telugu States.While Telangana insisted on sharing the Krishna river water on a 50:50 basis, Andhra Pradesh maintained that it should be on a 66:34 basis.Matter referred to Jal Shakti ministry Left with no other option, the board has decided to refer the matter to the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti for a resolution.

Telangana Irrigation and Command Area Development (I&CAD) Department Special Chief Secretary Rajat Kumar said the water allocation should be based on projects, and a separate tribunal should be constituted.He made it clear that there was no question of accepting the sharing of water on a 66:34 basis.He said Andhra Pradesh must utilise only 34 TMC of water from Srisailam and added that the latter was strongly opposing Telangana’s demand of sharing the water on 50:50 basis.Stating that the new water year would start from 1 June, he said officials from Telangana would continue to put pressure on the board on sharing river water on a 50:50 basis.Recently, the Telangana government requested KRMB to restrain Andhra Pradesh from executing what it calls the unauthorised Veligonda project, which is intended to divert water outside the basin.