AP, Telangana set to clash at river board meet

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have again unleashed a “war or letters” accusing each other of using up more water than was allotted to them by the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB). The board has convened a meeting to resolve the contentious issue in Hyderabad on February 8.The Engineering-in-Chief (ENC) of Andhra Pradesh Venkateswara Rao and his Telangana counterpart Muralidhar have been writing letters to the KRMB, accusing the other State of drawing water in excess.The Andhra Pradesh ENC, in a fresh letter on Friday, requested the board for the release of 16 tmcft. The letter reportedly said that 12 tmcft was required for the third wetting of the standing crop in Guntur and Prakasam districts.

While Andhra Pradesh charged Telangana with drawing nearly 5 tmcft in excess, Telangana charged the former with drawing 25 tmcft in excess and demanded that the KRMB release an equal amount of water to it. A.P. maintained that 40 tmcft was available in different projects on the river. While A.P. required 15 tmcft and Telangana 5 tmcft, there would still be 20 tmcft available.A team of KRMB officials visited the different projects in January to decide the spots to fix telemeters. A couple of months would be needed for fixing the gauges.