THE RIVER WATER WARS

On July 16, the bitter row between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over sharing Krishna waters—tapping it for irrigation and hydro power— entered a new phase with the Union government’s Jal Shakti ministry ordering that from mid-October the management and control of irrigation projects on the Krishna and Godavari rivers will vest with the respective river management boards and not the states.

- Amarnath K. Menon

The notification has come not a day too soon. It has been seven years since the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, to carve out Telangana, but how the river waters will be managed and shared between the two Telugu states has remained unresolved.

Beginning October 14, 36 projects in the Krishna basin and 71 in the Godavari basin will come under the control of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB), both set up in 2014 for the administration, regulation, maintenance and operation of the projects in the two river basins. Both the states have been asked to deposit Rs 200 crore each with the boards every year to cover operational and maintenance costs.

While Andhra Pradesh has welcomed the move, Telangana is not so pleased and might challenge it. Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) wanted the Centre to determine its fair share in the Krishna waters before bringing the projects under the control of the boards. Telangana has been drawing water for irrigation from the Srisailam Left Bank Canal project on the Krishna, which falls on the state’s border with Andhra Pradesh. The latter, in turn, has been developing the Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme to draw water from the Krishna’s right bank canal in spite of the KRMB asking both states to stop. Neither state secured the necessary permissions and approvals before launching their irrigation projects in the two river basins.