The Telangana Government has requested the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) to restrain Andhra Pradesh from executing the pumped-storage hydro electric project at Pinnapuram village of Panyam mandal in Kurnool district, stating that it is being taken up with Krishna water outside the basin and without appraisal or approval by the bodies concerned.
In a letter addressed to chairman of the river board M.P. Singh recently, engineer-in-chief of Telangana C. Muralidhar said that the AP Government had accorded permission for construction of pumped-storage hydel project by a private company in December 2020 with water drawn from Gorakallu reservoir based on the Srisailam Right Bank Canal, which again draws water from Pothireddypadu head regulator-Srisailam reservoir.
He stated that the project was based on drawal of Krishna water and the permission accorded to the project was in violation of Sections 84 and 85 of the AP Reorganisation Act. Any such project could be taken up only with the prior appraisal of the river board and approval of the Apex Council, he noted.
In December 2020 and September 2021, Telangana had requested KRMB to take necessary action and prevent AP from going ahead with the process of calling and awarding tenders. However, no action had been initiated so far and AP Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy had laid foundation stone for the project on May 17, Mr. Muralidhar wrote quoting newspaper reports.
The Telangana ENC said diverting Krishna water outside the basin area and utilising it for hydel generation was highly objectionable, particularly when several in-basin areas were starving for water and requested the river board to stall all new and expansion projects or canals of AP based on Srisailam water, taken up without appraisal and approval.
In another letter, Mr. Muralidhar wrote to KRMB chairman last week to restrain AP from going ahead with the projects, obtain details from that State and furnish details of all pumped-storage hydel projects of AP based on Krishna waters to Telangana.
