Get 70% of Krishna river water to Telangana, CM Revanth Reddy tells officials

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday asked officials to make efforts to secure 70 per cent of the total available Krishna river water to the Telangana as the state has 70 per cent of Krishna river basin area.

He said this while holding a meeting with Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy and officials here on irrigation issues, an official release said. As per international water principles, water allocation should be made in the same proportion depending on the river basin area covered, it said.

"The Chief Minister instructed the officials to present arguments according to this logic so that Telangana gets 70 percent of the water share out of 1005 TMC of available water from River Krishna," it said.

Reddy directed irrigation officials to present effective arguments before the water tribunal to ensure that the state's interests are fully protected.

As per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, the Brajesh Kumar Tribunal has been entrusted with the responsibility of deciding on water sharing between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the project-wise water allocations, the release said.

So far, the tribunal has only collected opinions and evidence from the state governments. The officials told the CM that the two states would present their arguments before the tribunal soon and the tribunal would then take decisions, it said.

The release also said Revanth Reddy asked why the decisions of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) should be taken into consideration as the Brajesh Kumar Tribunal has not yet completed water allocation between the two states.

The Chief Minister suggested to the officials to present arguments in the Supreme Court that there should be no interference of Godavari and Krishna boards until the distribution of water allocation by the tribunal is completed, it said. The two boards are formed as per the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.