Three-member committee of KRMB to meet on March 13

While Telangana has been demanding sharing of Krishna water in the ratio of 50:50, Andhra Pradesh is demanding that its share be increased to 70 per cent

Hyderabad: The three-member committee of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) will meet on March 13 to discuss water sharing issues between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

The last meeting of the committee scheduled for February 18 was cancelled as AP officials failed to appear before the Board. While Telangana has been demanding sharing of Krishna water in the ratio of 50:50, Andhra Pradesh is demanding that its share be increased to 70 per cent.

Earlier, Telangana complained that AP had already utilised more than its quota and urged KRMB to restrain it from utilising more. Telangana Engineer-in-chief C Muralidhar had urged the KRMB to calculate the consumption of Krishna water by the two States in the current water year to determine their actual usage. This would enable them to know how much water was actually consumed by each State and how much was left to be consumed, he said.

Despite several representations of Telangana in KRMB meetings, the sharing of Krishna water has been retained at the same level as was done in 2015 (299 TMC to Telangana and 512 TMC to Andhra Pradesh). Based on relevant basin parameters like cultivable area within the basin, drought prone areas and population within the basin, Telangana has been pleading for an allocation of over 574.6 TMC out of 75 per cent dependable flows of river Krishna, before KWDT-II.