First Jal Shakti panel meet aimed at resolving water disputes between AP and Telangana inconclusive

Central Water Commission Chairman Anupam Prasad asked both states to submit their agenda items within a week.

Representative image (Express Illustration)

HYDERABAD: The first meeting of the 13-member committee, constituted by the Jal Shakti Ministry, held in Delhi on Friday to resolve interstate water disputes between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, decided to meet again in February after finalising the agenda items. As neither sibling states did not provide agenda items, the meeting concluded without taking any decision.

However, Telangana officials opposed Andhra Pradesh’s proposed Polavaram–Nallamalasagar project being included in the agenda. They also raised issues related to Krishna river water, pending DPRs and other matters. They sought clearance of detailed project reports (DPRs) of the Palamuru-Rangareddy and Dindi Lift Irrigation schemes and the fixing of telemetry systems in the Krishna basin. Telangana officials raised as many as 12 points in the meeting, demanding that, until the tribunal delivers its final award, it should be allowed to utilise 50 per cent of the 811 tmcft of Krishna water allocated to the erstwhile combined Andhra Pradesh.

Though Telangana officials had announced that they would not attend the meeting if Nallamalasagar figured on the agenda, they attended the meeting as there was no agenda item.

After constituting the committee, the Jal Shakti Ministry had requested Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to send agenda items for discussion at the meeting. However, both states did not submit any items.

The ministry once again appealed to both states to send agenda items so that they could be discussed at the next meeting, likely to be scheduled in February. Telangana officials, however, firmly conveyed to the ministry that Andhra Pradesh’s Nallamalasagar project should not be included in the agenda for the next meeting.

Central Water Commission Chairman Anupam Prasad asked both states to submit their agenda items within a week.

Irrigation Principal Secretary Rahul Bojja, Advisor Adityanath Das, Irrigation Chief Engineer K Prasad, Superintending Engineer S Vijaya Kumar (Interstate), Executive Engineer Subramanya Prasad and others attended the meeting from Telangana.