Telangana Govt urges Centre to rectify discrepancies in KRMB meeting minutes

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Government has formally requested the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti to issue a corrigendum addressing discrepancies in the minutes of the meeting held on January 17th. The meeting aimed to review the status of the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam and address various agenda items.

Principal Secretary of the Irrigation & CAD Department, Rahul Bojja, wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Jal Shakti. Bojja highlighted that certain points raised by the Telangana delegation during the meeting were not recorded in the minutes. Conversely, some points not agreed upon by Telangana were incorrectly documented as agreed. Bojja clarified that, regarding the proposal to hand over headworks to KRMB, Telangana members intended to discuss the matter with the government before reaching a decision. However, the minutes inaccurately indicated Telangana's agreement to hand over the components, prompting the request for an amendment.

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Bojja further pointed out that Telangana representatives emphasized the crucial nature of the operation protocol for handing over projects to KRMB, a point omitted in the minutes despite Telangana's insistence. Telangana also asserted that hydel power projects should be controlled by states based on the geographical locations outlined in Schedule XII of APRA. Bojja urged the inclusion of these points in the minutes for clarity.

The deliberations of the meeting were communicated to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy. Regarding the operation protocol for Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar Dams, the State Government believed that KWDT-II is mandated to formulate the operation protocol between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana under section 89 of APRA. Pending KWDT-II adjudication, Telangana is open to considering an ad-hoc operation protocol, subject to several conditions.

These conditions include a proposed 50:50 water-sharing ratio between AP and Telangana until KWDT-II finalizes allocations, prioritizing in-basin needs according to KWDT-I. The State Government emphasized the historical context of the Srisailam project as a hydro-electric project sanctioned in 1962 for supplying 264 TMC to the Nagarjunasagar project. Other conditions included limiting outside basin diversions from Srisailam reservoir, permitting carryover of water to the next year, and strict prohibition of unauthorized construction diverting Krishna water to outside basins unless approved by CWC/MoWR.

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Regarding the handover of outlets to KRMB, the Telangana Government asserted that, as per Section 87 of APRA, KRMB should exercise jurisdiction over projects notified by the Government of India, considering awards made by water disputes tribunals. While KWDT-I allocated Krishna water en bloc to combined Andhra Pradesh, the ongoing KWDT-II process aims to bifurcate shares between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telangana is willing to consider handing over project components subject to the fulfillment of specified conditions.

Bojja expressed similar views in the 16th KRMB Meeting, stating that project handover could be considered only after finalizing the operation protocol. In the 17th KRMB Meeting, Telangana reiterated its disagreement with transferring components and suggested referring the matter to the Apex Council.

Telangana also sought modifications to Gazette notifications S.0.2842(E) & S.0.2843(E) dated 15.07.2021 and S.0.3511 (E) dated 27.07.2022, with the response from the Government of India still awaited. Additionally, the Telangana Government asserted that there is no requirement for a CRPF Battalion on the left half of the NSP dam.

In view of the above, Bojja requested the issuance of a corrigendum to the minutes of the January 17th meeting and also took up the issue of handing over projects to the Board subject to the specified terms.