Krishna river board biased towards Telangana, claims AP CM

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday accused the Krishna River Management Board of adopting a discriminatory attitude against the state and acting with a bias towards Telangana.

He also alleged that the neighboring Telangana government continued to ''blatantly violate the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014'' and act whimsically, causing a lot of distress to the state.

In a four-page follow-up letter to Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Monday, the AP Chief Minister requested the former to prevail upon the Telangana government to at once stop the indiscriminate drawal of water solely for power generation.

''We have already complained to the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti on several occasions the nature of Telangana leadership to violate all established norms, principles, and procedures in vogue with the main intention to put the state of Andhra Pradesh in distress by depriving its due share of water,'' Jagan said.

The number of unauthorized projects being constructed by Telangana (on river Krishna) was also brought to the Ministry and the KRMBs notice, he added.

''Despite repeated complaints and requests to prevail upon Telangana to stop the execution of the unauthorized projects, without appraisal of detailed project reports by KRMB and scrutiny by the CWC, no effective steps have been taken so far,'' the Chief Minister regretted.

He said the KRMB ''has shown and been showing'' discriminatory attitude against the interests of AP.

''KRMB acts swiftly on false complaints made by Telangana but ignores the genuine complaints of AP, though we have time and again requested it to act fairly.

KRMB, which is supposed to be a neutral body to safeguard the interests of both the member-states, is acting with a bias towards Telangana,'' Jagan told Shekhawat.

He found fault with the KRMB's move to visit the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme under the guise of an NGT order, without inspecting the sites in Telangana where unauthorized projects were in advance stages of execution.

The Chief Minister referred to a June 22 letter of the Jal Shakti Ministry wherein the KRMB was directed to place the issue of RLS site visit in the Board meeting for deciding as it involved the interests of both states.

''Direct the KRMB to be neutral in its functioning.

It may also be directed to first visit the sites of unauthorized projects under execution in Telangana before visiting RLS,'' Jagan requested Shekhawat.

The Chief Minister reiterated the request that the jurisdiction of KRMB be notified immediately and all water drawal, including water for irrigation, power, and drinking water from Krishna reservoirs, be brought under its control.

Jagan also wanted CISF deployment at all the common reservoir sites for effective operation and maintenance.