HYDERABAD: After establishing a temporary office for irrigation in the national capital, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao returned to Hyderabad on Friday, completing his nine-day tour of Delhi.
The irrigation office at Telangana Bhavan will have seven engineers, one executive engineer (EE), two deputy EEs and four assistant engineers (AEs) to pursue the progress of approval for detailed project reports (DPRs) of Godavari projects. If necessary, senior officials from Hyderabad will frequent Delhi.
The State government has decided to ensure permissions for seven projects across Godavari at the earliest to utilise its share of waters. Accordingly, the government submitted DPRs for two projects — Sitarama and Tupakula Gudem. The government will submit DPRs of Chinna Kaleshwaram, Choutapalli-Hanmanth Reddy, Chankha-Korata, Modikunta Vagu and BR Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella soon. “The office was established in Delhi to get clearances for all these projects at the earliest,” an official told Express on Thursday.
With regard to Krishna water, the State government wants the Centre to give a fresh Terms of Reference (ToR) under Section-3 of Inter-state River Water Disputes Act, 1956, to the existing Brijesh Kumar Tribunal, which already heard part of the arguments under Section-98 of AP Reorganisation Act. “The Brijesh Kumar Tribunal is well versed with the subject and it is currently hearing the arguments to decide project-wise allocations and share of water during the distress period. So, the government urged the Centre to provie fresh ToR to the Tribunal,” sources said.
According to sources, during his two-and-a-half-hour meeting with Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, KCR spent almost one hour explaining the problems relating to the Krishna water sharing. Rao also informed him about the illegal projects of AP government and AP’s drawl of excess water, more than 34 tmcft, from the Srisailam project.