Apex Council meeting on Andhra-Telangana river disputes set for Oct. 6

Hyderabad: The Union water ministry has proposed to hold the Apex Council meeting with the AP and Telangana chief ministers on October 6 to resolve the dispute between the two states over sharing of the Krishna and Godavari river waters.

The council meet has been postponed twice earlier. The Union Jal Shakti Ministry scheduled a meeting on August 5, but it was postponed at the request of Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao.

It was rescheduled to August 25, but was postponed again after the Apex Council chairman and Union water minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tested
positive for coronavirus and was hospitalised.

On Monday the ministry informed both state governments about a fresh date for the meeting and requested the chief ministers of both states to make it convenient to participate in the meet.

Shekhawat will chair the meeting through a video conference.

The meeting gains significance in view of the complaints and countercomplaints by both state governments to the Krishna River Management Board and the Godavari River Management Board pertaining to irrigation projects and also the letters of the Union water resource minister to both chief ministers.

In letters dated August 7, the minister noted that both states did not furnish detailed project reports (DPRs) of the projects objected to by the other to the river management board concerned despite the chairmen asking for the same.

The Union minister in his letters to the chief ministers made it clear that they cannot take up projects that are not approved by the respective river management boards and the Apex Council.

He also asked the AP government not to go ahead with the proposed Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project. Despite letters from the Union Minister, the AP government has finalised the tenders for the project recently.