Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday suggested a unique method to share river water among states, which he said would protect the interests of the lower riparian states.
Participating at the Southern Zonal Council meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah at the temple town of Tirupati, Jagan Mohan Reddy said water inflows into the reservoirs should be monitored every fortnight and release of water should be on a proportionate basis to maintain a balanced approach. Currently, the upper riparian states will release surplus waters in the event of floods and impound water till all their needs are met in the event of deficit inflows, he said.
With regard to the Inchampalli (river Godavari)–Nagarjunasagar (river Krishna) link to carry surplus Godavari and Mahanadi waters to deficit river basins of Krishna, Pennar, Cauvery and Vaigi, Jagan Mohan Reddy wanted the Centre to explore linking the river Godavari to Srisailam and take to other basins through Pothireddypadu which he said would be cost effective.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, however, took a strong objection to the lower riparian states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh going ahead with projects of permanent nature based on surplus waters.
He also pointed out that Tamil Nadu had been going ahead with Cauvery, Vaigi and Gundar link, though the share of co-basin states in the proposed linking scheme is yet to be fixed.
The Karnataka Chief Minister said neither Telangana nor the Apex Council had a right to take up lift irrigation projects at Palamuru Rangareddy and Nakkalagandi to draw large quantities of remaining surplus water from the foreshore of Srisailam reservoir on Krishna.
“We will also oppose the Sangambanda reservoir by Telangana as it will utilise the remaining water in the guise of savings which will come for review in 2050,” Bommai said, adding that allowing lower riparian states to make use of surplus water would hit Karnataka in the next round of fixing states’ share in 2050.
