Andhra Pradesh to bat for Union takeover of inter-state river projects

VIJAYAWADA: The State government is likely to move the Supreme Court urging it to declare irrigation/hydel projects over inter-state rivers as national projects and hand over their security to Central forces, besides seeking suspension of a GO issued by the Telangana government last month to generate power at Srisailam.

Official sources confirmed that the government is working on drafting the petition in the wake of the unilateral move by the Telangana government to generate hydel power at Srisailam beyond permissible limits and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s declaration that the two States should have equal share in Krishna waters contrary to the tribunal award of 66:34 ratio. Similarly, the government is peeved with the Krishna River Water Management Board (KRMB) for turning a blind eye to Telangana’s unauthorised projects and had also accused it of discriminating against Andhra Pradesh. In this context, the government is likely to push for a directive by the Apex Court to the Central government to finalise KRMB’s powers and functions.