HYDERABAD: The Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) has, at last, decided to hear the Telangana government’s arguments over Andhra Pradesh government’s act of diverting Godavari river water to the Krishna Basin through the Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme constructed by the TDP government.TS officials raised the water diversion issue at the GRMB meting held here on Tuesday.
The officials, including special chief secretary (irrigation) SK Joshi, argued that TS should be compensated for the loss of its share in Godavari water with an additional share in the Krishna river water in accordance with the earlier tribunal’s order. Responding to this, GRMB chairman SK HK Sahu asked the TS officials to present the arguments over Pattiseema diversion issue in writing to the board.
It may be recalled that the AP government diverted close to 110 tmcft of Godavari water to the Krishna river basin through the Pattiseema project in the current water year. The diversion is 30 tmcft more than the originally proposed 80 tmcft through Pattiseema. As such, the TS officials insisted on implementation of the tribunal’s award and allocation of 45 tmcft of additional water to TS from the Krishna upstream of Nagarjuna Sagar dam.
Though the TS officials repeatedly raised the Pattiseema issue, it was not discussed at KRMB or GRMB meetings earlier. For the first time, Sahu responded on Tuesday and asked TS to submit its arguments in writing to GRMB. In the three-hour-long meeting, the board also wanted AP and TS to submit their views on Middle Kolab project being constructed by Odisha across Godavari.
TS, AP to furnish DPRs
According to Sahu, both AP, TS governments agreed to furnish the detailed project reports (DPRs) of new projects, if any, on Godavari to GRMB
Board also approved the budget estimate of `7.5 crore for 2018-19 and also the working manual.
The board’s website was developed and both states agreed to upload the relevant data of projects in the Godavari basin in their respective states.
The board agreed to set up telemetry stations at various locations in AP and TS