The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) meeting scheduled for Friday on the use of Krishna river water by the two Telugu states has been postponed due to the objections raised by the Andhra Pradesh government. Senior officials of the Telangana Irrigation Department, who had already reached the Jalsaudha, which was already fully prepared, expressed their protest over the postponement of the meeting.
Telangana officials met KRMB Chairman Atul Jain for about an hour and presented their arguments. They deplored that in the current water year 2024-25, the Andhra Pradesh government has used more water from the Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam projects as per the Krishna Board’s calculations, and they appealed to prevent even a single drop of Krishna river water from being transferred to Andhra Pradesh.
Telangana Irrigation Department Principal Secretary Rahul Bojja officially handed over a letter to the Board Chairman in this regard. The letter requested that a total of 107 TMC of water be released for Telangana’s drinking water needs till May this year, including 17 TMC and 90 TMC for irrigation needs.
Meanwhile, Telangana officials suspect that there is a special strategy behind the AP officials’ reluctance to attend the special meeting of the KRMB. The Krishna Board had convened a special meeting on Friday with the aim of avoiding any disputes over the use of Krishna River water till the end of May in the current water year.
However, it is noteworthy that the AP government, which has already used more than its water quota, has requested a postponement instead of attending the board meeting. At the same time, Telangana Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy met KRMB Chairman Atul Jain on Thursday and appealed to Telangana to do justice.
Telangana officials have prepared for the meeting scheduled for Friday afternoon. However, everyone was shocked when the AP government suddenly announced that the board meeting would be postponed. The Krishna Board received an official letter from AP Water Resources Department Special Chief Secretary G. Sai Prasad.
They said that they would not be able to attend the board meeting on Friday as they had pre-scheduled official meetings and suggested that it be postponed to Monday afternoon. With that, the Krishna Water Management Board Chairman officially announced that the meeting would be postponed to Monday 24th.
