Apex Council meeting on October 6 to discuss Andhra-Telangana water dispute

To resolve the water dispute over sharing Krishna and Godavari river water, the Union Water Ministry has proposed to hold an Apex Council meeting with the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on October 6.

The council meet has been postponed twice earlier. The Union Jal Shakti Ministry scheduled a meeting on August 5 but it was postponed on the request of Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao. It was later was rescheduled to August 25, but was postponed again after the Council chairman and Union water minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tested positive for COVID-19. 

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“Andhra Pradesh state is intentionally creating disputes on River water sharing. We have to give a befitting reply to AP State’s arguments at the Council meeting. Give an absolute clarity on issues so that the AP government will not raise the issues again in future. Take the opportunity to expose the seven years delay caused by the Centre and its inactive role on the matter. Utilise the Apex Council meeting to tell the whole country about the facts,” CM KCR said.

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Speaking to Republic, Irrigation minister of Andhra Pradesh, Anil Kumar Yadav said that during the apex council meeting, they are ready to submit all the DPR to the board, provided Telangana also does the same. He also went on to say that Telangana is building some project in Krishna basin and Godavari basin and have not provided any DPR’s, but in turn, blamed that Andhra Pradesh is going forward with new projects. “We are claiming that whatever water is allocated to Andhra Pradesh that only is been used and therefore strong reply would be given from Andhra Pradesh”, he added. 

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Principal Secretary to Telangana Government for Irrigation & Command Area Development, Rajat Kumar said that Andhra Pradesh government has raised certain objections stating that Telangana has taken up new projects but all these are ongoing projects which have been sanctioned during the undivided Andhra Pradesh. He also added that all project are ongoing and Telangana is only using water within its allocations, allegations made by Andhra Pradesh are false.