VIJAYAWADA: The water resources officials of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will soon convene a meeting to discuss the construction of the long-pending Gundrevula dam, touted to be a game-changer for the drought-prone Rayalaseema districts, across Tungabhadra river. The issues raised by Karnataka are also likely to be addressed as the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has asked the AP officials to furnish the detailed project report to the neighbouring State ahead of the next Southern Zonal Council meeting likely to be held later this month.
Sources said that Andhra Pradesh officials have written to their Telangana counterparts on August 24 requesting to propose a suitable date for a meeting to resolve the pending issues. On August 28, the Telangana officials responded, requesting AP to communicate a copy of the detailed project report of the project. The AP officials are in the process of sharing the same.
The KRMB too has reportedly informed the AP officials to share the project report with Karnataka, which had earlier written to the Union ministry of home affairs raising the issue of submergence. The Union ministry, in turn, asked the river management board to share the DPR with Karnataka so that a joint survey could be taken up if there was to be a submergence issue. In this context, the board has written to AP to share the same with Karnataka so that the interstate issues could be discussed in the upcoming Southern Zonal Council meeting to be convened by the Union ministry.
In the meantime, members of the Rayalaseema Saaguneeti Sadhana Samithi and Tungabhadra Jalala Hakkula Sadhana Samithi, which have been working for the implementation of the project for the past several years, expressed hope that AP and Telangana will resolve the pending issues as Gundrevula project would be critical to feed water to irrigation projects in the ‘backward’ areas of both the States.
“We welcome the move to have a meeting. We appeal to all the political parties of both the states to come together to ensure that the project is taken forward,” president of Rayalaseema Saaguneeti Sadhana Samithi Bojja Dasaratha Rami Reddy and treasures of Tungabhadra Jalala Hakkula Sadhana Samithi Seeta Rami Reddy said in a statement.
