Krishna water is at the centre of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay’s visit to Andhra Pradesh, where he is scheduled to meet Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on October 12 to seek the regular release of water from the Kandaleru reservoir and discuss river-linking plans, Dinamalar reported.
The meeting is scheduled for 4:15 pm in Vijayawada. Vijay is travelling to Andhra Pradesh with Water Resources Minister Anand, Chief Secretary Saikumar and Water Resources Secretary Prashanth Vadnare, according to the report. The delegation is expected to press for the release of Tamil Nadu’s allocated Krishna water and raise the issue of inter-state water management.
Under the arrangement cited by Dinamalar, Andhra Pradesh is expected to supply 11 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of Krishna water to Tamil Nadu every year from the Kandaleru reservoir. The report, however, says that the water is not being released regularly. This makes the proposed discussion significant for a supply system that depends not only on an allocation but also on coordinated reservoir operations, canal management and communication between the two states.
Tamil Nadu also pays Andhra Pradesh’s Water Resources Department an annual maintenance charge of Rs 100 crore for the Krishna canal, according to the report. The payment creates an additional administrative dimension to the discussion, since the functioning of the canal and the delivery of water are linked to the upkeep of infrastructure across state boundaries.
The Krishna water system is important to Tamil Nadu’s wider water-security framework because it connects a source in Andhra Pradesh with demand in the Chennai region. Any irregularity in the movement of water can therefore become an issue of state-level planning rather than a matter limited to a single reservoir or canal. The report does not provide details of the volume currently available in Kandaleru, the latest release schedule or the extent of any shortfall against the annual 11 TMC expectation.
During the visit, the Tamil Nadu delegation is also expected to press for progress on a river-linking project. Dinamalar did not specify the project’s route, cost, implementation agency or construction timeline. Those details would determine whether the proposal is at the discussion stage or connected to an existing inter-state water plan.
After the meeting with Naidu, Vijay is scheduled to visit the Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada at 6 pm and meet Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan. He is expected to return to Chennai at 8 pm. The report also said that Vijay will visit Coimbatore on October 16 to inaugurate a library building completed at a cost of Rs 300 crore and interact with students.
