Telangana wants KRMB to stop Veligonda project in Andhra Pradesh

The union Minister for Jal Shakti had also made it clear at the second Apex council meeting that the inter-basin transfer of water can be considered only after fulfilling the in-basin needs by according its due priority.

Hyderabad: The State irrigation authorities on Thursday requested the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to restrain Andhra Pradesh from executing works on the unauthorised Veligonda project and adding new components to it. Taking exception to the implementation of the project, the Engineer -in- Chief (General) Irrigation C Muralidhar wrote to the board argiuing that the addition of new components to the project were intended to divert Krishna water beyond the basin.

He recalled that Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had opposed the “illegal and unauthorised diversion” of Krishna basin water to other basins and requested the union Minister for Jal Shakti in October 2020 for action against the diversion of Krishna water by Andhra Pradesh through the Srisailam reservoir.

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The union Minister for Jal Shakti had also made it clear at the second Apex council meeting that the inter-basin transfer of water can be considered only after fulfilling the in-basin needs by according its due priority. The union Minister for Jal Shakti also wrote a letter on May1, 2021 directing Andhra Pradesh not to go ahead with the activity of awarding and construction until the detailed project reports were appraised and approved by the KRMB and the Apex council.

But AP had sought to go ahead with the works execution on the project ignoring the directions of the Ministry of Jal Shakti. He reiterated that the implementation of the projects based on the surplus waters including Veligonda would be detrimental to the interests of Telangana state projects especially those serving the acute drought drought-prone areas and the fluoride-affected regions apart from the settled ayacut of the Nagarjuna Sagar project. It would also have a bearing on meeting the drinking water needs of Hyderabad city also.