The Hindu : Front Page : Monitoring authority for Krishna outflow

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 12, 2007
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Monitoring authority for Krishna outflow

M. Malleswara Rao

Representatives of the three regions likely to constitute the proposed authority

HYDERABAD: A monitoring authority comprising representatives of the three regions of the State is proposed to be constituted by the Government to supervise proper outflow of water to each region from the Krishna and to protect project-specific allocations.

Such an authority alone, the Government feels, can ensure equitable distribution of water to the three regions and address the complex problems such as the ones arising from objections by political parties against the increase in the discharge capacity of Pothireddypadu head regulator of Srisailam dam. To begin with, the authority is likely to consist of engineers from Telangana, Rayalaseem and Coastal Andhra. In fact, such a committee with serving engineers exists now but it is considered to be ineffective and not sufficiently sensitive to regional requirements.

By and large, the Bachawat Tribunal went along the principle of protecting the existing projects and did not give weight to regional interests. Out of the 811 tmcft of Krishna water allocated to the State, Andhra region thus secured 388.82 tmcft, Telangana 276.6 tmcft and Rayalaseema 145.55 tmcft.

This allotment does not correspond to the catchment areas as also contribution of water from the respective regions. Telangana contributes 160 tmcft to the river (20,167 sq. miles catchment area), Rayalaseema 41 tmcft (5,414 sq miles) and Andhra 71 tmcft (3,860 sq miles).

Further, a study pointed out that out of the 225 tmcft of flood (surplus) water to the State, Andhra, Telangana and Rayalaseema are using 109, 90 and 54 tmcft respectively. Rayalaseema's share is totally inadequate as new projects like Handri-Niva, Galeru-Nagari and Telugu Ganga together require 109 tmcft.

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