The Third Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) held in Hyderabad has decided to appoint an expert committee on Srisailam Project’s Dam Safety. The decision was taken to strengthen the dam to face even in case of re-occurrence of similar situations like 2009 heavy floods to river Krishna.

Hyderabad: The Third Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) held here on Wednesday has decided to appoint an expert committee to study the safety of Srisailam Dam built on river Krishna. The meeting was attended by the Engineering in Chiefs and Principal Secretaries of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state Irrigation departments.

Keeping in view the next rainy season, the board has discussed the issue in detail, against the backdrop of the stress levels mounted on the Srisailam Dam, during 2009 floods to the Krishna river. To ensure the safety of the structure, it was decided to strengthen the dam, to withstand even in case of re-occurrence of 2009 situation. For this, the KRMB has decided to write a letter to the Central Water Commission (CWC) on the issue highlighting the need to study the dam safety, and its intention to appoint an expert committee, to study the dam safety issues and to make recommendations to take necessary remedial measures.

In regard to sharing of existing Krishna river waters in Srisailam Project, an agreement was reached between the AP and TS, to share the waters in 62.8:38.2 ratio, during the current year. As the AP has already utilized 7 TMCs of water in its share, the TS and AP were allocated 20 TMCs and 10 TMCs, respectively, from the existing waters of the Srisailam Project.
The issue of taking over all the projects across the Krishna river located in AP and TS by the Board was figured in the meeting. However, as it needed a detailed discussion to take a decision on the issue, the same has been postponed to the next KRMB meeting. The Board in principal has also agreed to hold the next KRMB meeting at Vijayawada.