TG to Bear Cost If AP Lays Pipeline to Chennai

Chennai has never received its allotted 15 tmcft of Krishna water, senior counsel tells KWDT

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad

The Telangana government on Thursday told the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal that it was prepared to bear the full cost of a pipeline, if laid by Andhra Pradesh, to supply 15 tmcft of water annually to Chennai for drinking purposes.

Senior counsel for Telangana, C.S. Vaidyanathan, submitted that Chennai has never received its allotted 15 tmcft of Krishna water, despite Andhra Pradesh drawing about 200 tmcft a year from the Srisailam reservoir. He said the proposed pipeline could be laid either from Srisailam or the Prakasam Barrage, with Telangana willing to fund the project.

Vaidyanathan informed the tribunal that Telangana was planning offline storages from Jurala and Srisailam to harness Krishna flows to the extent of four to six tmcft per day.