Top News

Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy announced that an expert committee comprising senior officials and engineers from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will be formed to present a way forward, identifying issues with irrigation projects between the two states, after which further issues will be discussed at the level of the chief ministers.

He said issues like permissions for new irrigation projects, water allocation for ongoing projects and completed projects will be part of the deliberations of the expert committee. He said issues in projects on the Godavari and Krishna rivers and their tributaries will be studied and further escalated.

The chief ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh discussed inter-state irrigation issues with Union Jal Shakti minister CR Patil at Shram Shakti Bhavan in New Delhi on Wednesday, July 16.

Revanth Reddy said that no discussion on the Polavaram-Banakacherla Link Project (PBLP) took place, as AP has not proposed it for discussion, and hence, there was no need for Telangana to pursue it at the moment.

He said that Polavaram Project Authority (PPA), the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) have expressed their objections, in addition to the objections raised by the Telangana government on PBLP. However, he said that there is presently no need for a discussion of that issue.

Irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the decision to install telemetry measuring systems at all offtake points on the Krishna River and the canals of various projects drawing water from the river was taken during the meeting.

The minister said that Telangana has proposed and is also going to fund the installation of those telemetry systems through the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).

He also said that based on the concerns raised by the Telangana government and the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) on the plunge pool and other repairs to the Srisailam dam were also discussed. He noted that the Centre has directed AP to carry out repairs and rehabilitation of the Srisailam project, as the project came under AP’s purview.

As stated in the AP Reorganisation Act of 2014, and also gratifying the decision taken during the Apex Council’s meeting in 2020 between the two states, he said a decision to establish KRMB in AP, and setting up GRMB in Hyderabad was taken during the meeting.

Revanth Reddy said that the Centre was only playing the role of an arbitrator on the issues between the two states, and not acting as a stakeholder. He compared CR Patil with a judge during the meeting held between the two chief ministers on Wednesday, for which there was no agenda presented before the two states.

Before the meeting, Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu shook hands before CR Patil. The chief secretaries, irrigation principal secretaries and engineers from both states were present at the meeting.

Before the meeting of the two chief ministers, they held meetings at their official residences in Delhi with their higher officials and irrigation engineers, on how to answer and what to answer on the points raised by the other side during the discussions.