HYDERABAD: Hardening his stand on sharing of Krishna waters with Andhra Pradesh, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday asserted that he was not prepared to forego even a drop of water and that he was ready for a protracted battle with his neighbour on this issue.The Chief Minister made his stand clear ahead of the Apex Council meeting convened by the Ministry of Jal Shakti on August 5, which he said he was not very keen in attending as he had several other government programmes lined up on that day.He suggested that a fresh date could be fixed after August 20 even as the meeting wondered why the Centre was showing undue haste in convening the Apex Council meeting.
During a review meeting on irrigation issues at Pragathi Bhavan, Rao said: “The irrigation sector in Telangana suffered a lot under a united Andhra Pradesh. Now, we have to protect our share of water in Krishna and Godavari rivers. We will not forego even a single drop of water. The government is ready to go to any extent and fight for the State’s rights.”
The meeting discussed threadbare the strategy to be adopted on the water disputes. Though, the Ministry of Jal Shakti wanted the Apex Council meeting on August 5, the meeting felt that as several government programmes are lined up on that date it would be better if the Ministry conducts the meeting any day after August 20. By that time, the Independence Day celebrations too will be over. Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar will write a letter to the Jal Shakti Ministry to this effect.
The meeting also expressed displeasure over the role the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) was playing, terming it as ‘farcical’ in resolving the water disputes between the two States.When the new States were formed, the MoJS had a tradition to ensure that the distribution of river waters were done in a proper manner. But the Central government had failed in this aspect. When there are no disputes between the two States, the sharing of river waters should be done under the leadership of Minister of MoJS. The underlying message of the meeting was, “when there are disputes, the responsibility should be given to the Tribunal”.
When there were disputes between AP and TS from the beginning, the responsibility of resolving them should be given to the Tribunal as per Section 13 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, Rao and other officials felt. “The Telangana government, right from the beginning, has been demanding exactly the same. But the MoJS turned a deaf ear to that demand,” officials opined and took exception to its attitude.
“The Centre has remained passive when it came to solving water disputes. The Centre should at least shed its unhelpful attitude. Because of the irresponsible attitude of the Centre, both the States are paying a heavy price.”The meeting, however, felt that the water disputes between the two States should be resolved by Tribunals in a legal manner. Perpetual friction between the two States would not do any good.
Priority for projects
The meeting unanimously resolved that the Palamuru-Rangareddy and Dindi projects should be accorded top priority and should be completed despite any odds as they would provide irrigation to combined districts of Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda and Rangareddy, which suffered a lot under united Andhra Pradesh.The meeting also resolved that Telangana should utilise its just share of waters in Godavari and Krishna completely and effectively without any compromise.
The construction of projects would be expedited. The meeting was attended by senior officials, State Planning Board Vice-chairman B Vinod Kumar, State Rythu Bandhu Samithi president Palla Rajeshwar Reddy and advocates.