Telangana Clarifies KWDT-II on Increased Water Withdrawal from Nagarjunasagar to Andhra

swift Summary

• Telangana has submitted its case to the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II regarding water allocation from the Nagarjunasagar project.
• Telangana alleges that the combined Andhra Pradesh government reduced ayacut (irrigated area) under Nagarjunasagar Left Canal in Telangana from 6.6 lakh acres to 6.02 lakh acres, lowering its water requirement from 111 tmcft to 100 tmcft.
• The ayacut under Nagarjunasagar Right Canal for Andhra Pradesh was increased from 9.7 lakh acres (as per a proposal in 1954) to 11.74 lakh acres, increasing AP’s water share.
• Telangana claims these changes where detrimental, aiming to divert more water toward Andhra region during the pre-bifurcation period of united Andhra Pradesh state governance.
• Counsel C.S. vaidyanathan for Telangana argued against increased water diversion capacities at Srisailam reservoir through Pothireddypadu Head Regulator, stating it violates prior agreements and scientific assessments of irrigation needs in different regions.
• He contextualized these concerns with comparative crop water requirements and affidavits by expert witnesses such as Palanisami and G.S Jha.
• Telangana highlighted AP’s increasing utilization trends-from drawing lower cusecs initially around Srisailam facilities (1980: ~11,150 cusecs) rising dramatically into recent decades.

Indian Opinion Analysis

The legal contention on Krishna river waters reflects longstanding tensions between newly formed states post-bifurcation-underscoring critical challenges in regional equity over shared natural resources like irrigation projects framed before current state jurisdictions evolved proportionately fresh-only logics-dividers.helper=”more”/