Amaravati, Nov 26 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday made it clear that there is no question of Andhra Pradesh giving up its rights on Krishna River water under any circumstances.
He said that while united Andhra Pradesh had a total share of 811 TMC of Krishna waters, after the bifurcation of the state, the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-I (KWDT-I) allocated 512 TMC of water to Andhra Pradesh and 299 TMC of water to Telangana.
Addressing a review meeting on water resources at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister directed the officials to present strong arguments before the KWDT-II to protect the state’s share in Krishna waters.
The Chief Minister said that there is no possibility of making any changes in the share allotted to Andhra Pradesh.
The Chief Minister’s statement came days after YSR Congress Party president and former Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy urged him to safeguard the interests of the people of the state before KWDT-II.
The YSRCP leader wrote that this is of vital importance in light of the Telangana government’s demand for the allocation of 763 TMC of dependable water in the Krishna River to the state of Telangana.
CM Chandrababu Naidu said since thousands of TMC of water goes to waste into the sea every year, officials should act in harmony with the neighbouring states to use the flood waters.
The Chief Minister instructed the officials to take effective water management measures to make the state drought-free and to provide water security to all districts. He CM inquired about the details of the water reserves currently available in the reservoirs in the state.
Officials informed the Chief Minister that as of November 25 this year, there are 1,095 TMC of water reserves in the state's major, medium and minor reservoirs. They said that all the reservoirs in the state are filled to 83.43 per cent of their capacity.
He advised the officials to conduct a scientific study on the reasons why many reservoirs are not filled to their full capacity despite abundant rains in the state. The Chief Minister asked officials to identify reservoirs that are not filled to their full capacity through gravity and take steps to fill them through lift.
Last year, the average depth of groundwater was 7.45 meters... but this year it has increased to 6.8 meters. Officials informed the Chief Minister that the groundwater level has increased from 6.77 meters to 6.56 meters in Coastal Andhra and from 9 meters to 7.34 meters in Rayalaseema.
The Chief Minister told the officials to take special steps to increase the groundwater level in 5,697 villages below 8 meters. The target is to bring the average groundwater level across the state to 3 meters, and conservation measures should be taken accordingly.
The Chief Minister reviewed the progress of the Polavaram project. The diaphragm wall work is 73 per cent complete, and the construction will be completed by February next year, officials said.
--IANS
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