HYDERABAD: Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat advised the Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh not to proceed with the construction of projects which have not been cleared by the agencies concerned such as the Central Water Commission (CWC).He wished that the Apex Council meeting is held at the earliest to resolve the water-sharing disputes between the sibling States.
The Union Minister wrote separate letters to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his AP counterpart YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday. He said the next date of the Apex Council meeting would be announced shortly and as the States had not sent their agenda, one would be prepared based on the inputs given by the Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards.
In the letter addressed to KCR, the Union Minister said: “The AP government objected to the construction of seven projects by Telangana in the Godavari basin — the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), GLIS phase-3, Sita Rama Lift Irrigation Scheme, Tupakulagudem, Telangana Drinking Water Supply Project, barrages on the lower Penganga river and the Ramappa lake to Pakhal lake diversion”. The Union Minister further stated that the KLIS should be appraised again, given the changes made in the project’s scope and cost by the Telangana government.
“You are aware that the detailed project report (DPR) of the KLIS was accepted by the Advisory Committee of the Ministry in June, 2018. However, Telangana subsequently changed the scope and enhanced the lifting of Godavari waters from 2 tmcft to 3 tmcft per day without submitting the DPR to the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) or CWC for appraisal,” the Union Minister wrote.
Any change in scope or cost of the project needs to be appraised again, Shekhawat wrote to KCR. The Union Minister also said the projects AP objected to, had not been sanctioned by the Apex Council. Though, the GRMB asked Telangana to submit DPRs of new projects by June 10, 2020, the State government did not do so. “Under the circumstances, I wish to reiterate that Telangana should not proceed with the new projects to which AP objected, without submitting the DPRs to the GRMB for appraisal and also without obtaining the sanction of the Apex Council,” he wrote.
In his letter to Jagan, Shekhawat said: “The Telangana government raised objections over AP’s plans to draw six to eight tmc ft water per day from the Srisailam reservoir on the Krishna river. The project is not sanctioned by the Apex Council and the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB). Though the KRMB wanted the DPRs of the new projects, AP did not submit these so far. It was also brought to my notice that recently the AP government issued a tender notice for taking up the Rayalaseema Lift Scheme (RLIS) and other related works. The government should not proceed with these projects, including calling and awarding of tenders, without submitting the DPRs to the KRMB for appraisal and without obtaining the sanction of the Apex Council”.