VIJAYAWADA: Ahead of the second Apex Council meeting scheduled to be convened under the chairmanship of Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Tuesday to discuss water problems between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to review State’s approach for the meeting on Sunday.
The letter written to Shekhawat by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao, seeking control of Srisailam Reservoir to ensure that AP does not go ahead with ‘illegal’ Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme, is also expected to come up at the meeting.
Sources in the AP government said that as a broad strategy has already been decided, specifics on the four agenda points — submission of detailed project reports (DPRs) of new projects, notifying jurisdiction of Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards, establishment of mechanism for sharing of water and shifting of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) headquarters to AP — would be discussed.
As per the working arrangement between the twin Telugu States after bifurcation, Telangana has the operational control of Nagarjuna Sagar project. “In KCR’s letter, it was claimed that KRMB failed to play its role as a monitor and he sought control over Srisailam project. But, isn’t it Telangana which has been opposing notification of jurisdiction of river management boards since bifurcation? AP has time and again sought the notification, which is in the hands of the Centre. Only if the jurisdiction is notified, the boards will have control over the projects to enforce the agreements,” an official said.
In his letter, KCR has once again called discussion over jurisdiction ‘premature and meaningless’ as the overall allocation of Krishna waters between both the States is yet to be formulated by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal - II. KCR also requested that the issue of water sharing be added to the agenda. “On one hand, they don’t allow KRMB to take over the jurisdiction and on the other, they blame the board for not discharging the duties.
In fact, the Union Jal Shakti Ministry has clarified that there was no link between allocation of water under the tribunal and notification of jurisdiction. But, Telangana still claims otherwise and is deliberately confusing the apex council as the tribunal. The Apex Council is only a supervisory body to monitor the functioning of KRMB and GRMB, and matters related to water sharing can be decided only by the tribunal,” the official maintained.
In fact, the State water resources officials, in a letter to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry dated August 4, clearly informed that the Apex Council would be acting in derogation of provisions of the tribunal, AP Reorganisation Act and Interstate Water Disputes Act, if it decides on water allocation. “The Apex Council has no primary authority relating to water sharing,” the State said, requesting that the item be excluded from the agenda.
“We are going to stand by it. The council can’t decide on water allocation,” a senior official said. The State officials also rebutted the claim of KCR that Pothireddypadu Head Regulator doesn’t have any water allocation. “The Telangana government seems to be conveniently forgetting the working agreement made in June, 2015, according to which water could be drawn for Rayalaseema projects. It was the first and only agreement between both the States after bifurcation, and it is still in effect as both the States agreed to continue the arrangement,” the State officials explained.
Regarding KCR’s claim that the seven projects in Krishna basin are not new, the officials are set to counter it noting that the Telangana government has re-engineered the projects and changed their scope. AP had sent a letter dated August 4 giving details of the five new projects that were taken up by Telangana with a total water utilisation of 150.53 TMC with an ayacut of 16.87 lakh acres. The State said the scope of three ongoing projects, Kalwakurthi LIS, Nettempadu LIS and SLBC, was enhanced.
‘KCR demand meaningless’
VIJAYAWADA: The ‘Andhra Pradesh Rashtra Saagu Neeti Viniyogadarula Sanghala Samakhya’ has described as meaningless the demand of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao (KCR) to hand over the operational control of Srisailam reservoir to his State.
The samakhya opined that KCR kicked up a new controversy by making the proposition so as to draw 250 TMC of Krishna water through ‘illegal’ projects.
In a press meet here on Saturday, president of the Samakhya Alla Venkata Gopala Krishna Rao claimed that Nagarjuna Sagar project’s head regulator on the right canal, which is in AP, was being ‘illegally’ operated by Telangana since bifurcation.