Krishna Water Dispute; Telangana and Andhra Pradesh police deployed at Pulichintala

Amid Krishna river water utilization row, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh(AP) police personnel were deployed at the Nagarjuna Sagar to prevent disruption of power generation and to safeguard the powerhouse. The deployment of Andhra police was,however, scaled down. With the clash of conflicts now exceeding more than two years, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were engaged in a fresh row over sharing of Krishna waters and power generation.

This saw Telengana taking strong exception to the Rayalaseema lift scheme which was allegedly being carried out illegally. The Telangana Cabinet on June 19 took strong exception to the irrigation schemes, including Rayalaseema lift irrigation, allegedly taken up illegally by Andhra Pradesh, and decided to undertake different projects to get its fair share in the Krishna river waters. The Telangana Cabinet on June 19 took strong exception to the irrigation schemes, including Rayalaseema lift irrigation, allegedly taken up illegally by Andhra Pradesh, and decided to undertake different projects to get its fair share in the Krishna river waters.

Why has the water of Krishna always been a matter of grave discussion?

Progressive agricultural and water development, coupled with uncoordinated short term management decisions (at the basin, state or irrigated command area level) and unconstrained private initiative (groundwater exploitation), have ignored resource limitations and led to a progressive over-commitment of water resources of the Krishna basin. Surface water resources are now almost entirely committed to human consumptive uses; the increasing groundwater abstraction negatively affects the surface water balance by decreasing base flows, and the discharge to the ocean continues to decrease. However, despite evidence of basin closure leading to sectoral and regional interdependence, the three states that share the Krishna waters continue to strongly promote their own agriculture and irrigation development as the basis for their broader economic take-off. This development path, relying on both large and small-scale water control facilities, can no longer be sustained without impinging on existing water use and affecting the security of supply for existing users.The lower Krishna is a deficit basin. It depends highly on inflow from the upper basin and on upstream water uses. It is the first part of the Krishna basin to face the adverse consequences of any hydrological changes. It is also the region where most of the available water is depleted by human consumptive uses.

Political Point of View of the Krishna Water 

The Cabinet had condemned AP allegedly not heeding to the orders of NGT and the Centre with regard to the projects. Telangana had approached the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court against APs 'illegal' involvement in the projects. Meanwhile, AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday, July 1, sought the Centres immediate intervention to stop Telangana from illegally drawing water from the river Krishna for power generation.

The Chief Minister also wanted Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel to be posted at all the common reservoirs (between AP and Telangana) on river Krishna for protection and also safeguarding the interests of the state.
The Chief Minister wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard and marked a copy to Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, enclosing the various letters written by the AP Engineer-in-Chief (Water Resources), the Krishna River Management Board and the government order issued by Telangana.

Talking to reporters on Friday, July 2,Telangana Sports Minister V Srinvas Goud, said his government was only constructing projects on Krishna river as per the Government Orders issued in undivided Andhra Pradesh and that there were no illegal projects in the state.
Differences came to the fore between the two states and policemen of the two states had clashed in 2015 at the Nagarjuna Sagar dam.
However, a thaw was witnessed in the relations between the two states when AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy called on his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao after the former assumed charge as Chief Minister in 2019.The two states had then sought to work in a cordial atmosphere.