Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy at a review meeting on Irrigation in Delhi on Wednesday
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy at a review meeting on Irrigation in Delhi on Wednesday

Telangana objects to AP’s Godavari-Banakacherla interlinking project

CM Revanth Reddy underscored that water allocations should be made project-wise as per Section 89 of the APRA-2014.
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HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday directed officials of the state Irrigation department to write letters to Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressing Telangana’s objections to the AP government’s proposed Godavari-Banakacherla interlinking project.

Copies of the letter will also be sent to Godavari and Krishna River Management Boards (GRMB and KRMB). Telangana is objecting to the project on the grounds that the AP government took up the Godavari-Banakacherla linking without obtaining the required permissions.

Chairing a review meeting along with Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy in Delhi on Wednesday, the chief minister directed the officials to mention in the letter that, as per the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 (APRA-2014), if any state wanted to construct a project on any river in the two sibling states, information should be given to the GRMB, KRMB, and the neighbouring state. AP, however, decided to take up the project without furnishing this information.

According to sources, the other objection of Telangana was that the Tribunal should decide the share of water between two states and one state should not take up projects without the allocation being made beforehand.

The chief minister also directed the officials to present effective arguments before Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II (KWDT-II) for Telangana’s share of river Krishna water under Section 3 of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act (ISRWDA)-1956.

The chief minister underscored that water allocations should be made project-wise as per Section 89 of the APRA-2014. The Tribunal is set to take up the hearing on Thursday.

Expedite IIT-H study on Bhadradri, officials told

Revanth observed that the Apex Council formed under APRA-2014 suggested that the distribution of water should be made between the two states based on Section 3 of the ISRWDA. Though the AP government approached the Supreme Court on the further terms of reference of KWDT-II, the apex court did not grant any stay, the officials informed the chief minister.

Revanth instructed the officials to conduct a study by IIT-Hyderabad on the flooding of Bhadrachalam due to the Polavaram project within the stipulated time. He also asked the officials to expedite the process of obtaining permissions for the Sammakka-Sarakka Barrage and Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation projects.

Ministers D Sridhar Babu and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary V Seshadri, state government adviser (Irrigation) Adityanath Das, Irrigation Secretary Rahul Bojja and others were present.

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