Andhra Pradesh, Telangana back to sparring over Krishna waters; police deployed amid tense situation

A tense situation is prevailing at the Krishna basin projects – Srisailam, Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala – amid a row over sharing of the river waters and hydel power generation between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Police forces were deployed on both sides of the projects straddling the two Telugu states, which are under the shared management of the Jaganmohan Reddy and K Chandrasekhar Rao governments.

The position is reminiscent of the scenes from 2015 when the irrigation, project officials of two sides were engaged in heated arguments and policemen from the two states came to blows on the Nagarjuna Sagar dam because of the stiff stand taken by the then chief ministers – Chandrababu Naidu and Rao - over sharing of the waters and almost everything else of the united state bifurcated a year before.

Also read — Krishna water dispute: Telangana CM Rao plans new projects in retaliation to AP's lift irrigation scheme

In 2019, after Reddy stormed to power in Andhra Pradesh, the two governments engaged in discussions to arrive at amicable settlements. But the bonhomie disappeared within a year as Reddy, in May 2020, initiated the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme to draw three TMC per day of Srisailam reservoir waters from the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator.

The Rao government, which has been objecting to the project and has complained to the Centre, National Green Tribunal, Krishna River Management Board, etc., to stop “the illegal construction activity,” had last month decided to construct a few projects on its side, drawing the Krishna waters.

Some of the TRS ministers even accused Reddy and his father late CM YSR Reddy of stealing the Telangana's share of waters.

What precipitated the dispute now is Telangana CM Rao's decision to augment the state's hydel power generation from the Krishna river's left bank projects.

On Wednesday, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet chaired by Reddy reportedly condemned Telangana's move to draw waters from dead storage levels to produce electricity and decided to take the matter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.