VIJAYAWADA: The State government is in the process of identifying items to be proposed for the agenda for the meeting of Apex Council, constituted by the Union Jal Shakti Ministry for monitoring Godavari and Krishna river water in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and their management boards.
While the agenda is yet to take a shape, pending issues, including finalisation of working manual for both the river management boards, new projects and sharing of flood water are likely to be a part of Andhra Pradesh’s agenda.
On last Thursday, the Union Jal Shakti Ministry had written to both the States to submit agenda points for the second apex council meeting ‘likely to be convened shortly’.
Both the States were yet to send in their propositions after agreeing to submit them in a meeting held in January, 2020.
According to sources, some of the points that could be proposed for the agenda would be status of compliance with the decisions taken during the first council meeting held on September 21, 2016, handing over jurisdiction of projects to the river management boards and new project proposals.
In the first apex council meeting held almost four years ago, it was decided to install telemetry system to gauge the water utilisation by both the States.
A joint committee was constituted to study availability of water in the river basins as well.
For the record, AP consented to hand over the jurisdiction of the projects on both the rivers to the respective river management board, while Telangana hasn’t come forward yet.
As AP’s proposal to establish a new pumping scheme on Srisailam triggered tensions again between the twin Telugu States, the officials are likely to discuss the jurisdiction issues. The issue of calculation of utilisation of flood water could also be an agenda point. “We will take a call on the points to be submitted after discussing with the Chief Minister,” a senior official explained.