Telangana Government decides to attend river meetings

Hyderabad: Finally, the Telangana Government has decided to attend the meeting of the KRMB and GRMB (Krishna River Management Board and Godavari River Management Board) scheduled to be held on Wednesday.

This meeting gains importance as the Telangana government wants to put forward its argument forcefully objecting the proposal of the Andhra Pradesh government which wrote a letter to the KRMB stating that water sharing should be on the basis of 70:30 between AP and TS while the Telangana government said that the sharing should be on 50:50 basis. Not just that there are many other contentious issues like the gazette notification issued by the Union government on projects and river managements, utilisation of Krishna and Godavari water between the two Telugu States as well as the objections of the AP on hydel power generation and the TS stand on its right to continue with power generation.

While AP officials had been attending the meetings, the TS officials were asked by the government not to go to these meetings on various grounds, including the need to attend court cases on those dates.

However, now Telangana State Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has directed the officials to attend the meeting and put forward their argument effectively.

They will also present the letters written by the State Government to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry against the enhancement of the capacity of Pothireddypadu head regulator and the illegal construction of the Rayalaseema Lift irrigation scheme by the AP government would also be presented to the board members.

Telangana State will take the stand that the Srisailam hydel power project has been constructed for power generation and the neighbouring State has no right to demand that it be stopped. Telangana would also insist the GRMB to allocate 45 tmc ft of water from Godavari additionally for diverting water to the Pattiseema project by the Andhra government. Officials said that the issue of full powers to the boards in the management of the projects would be raised and the challenges to be faced by Telangana in lifting water during emergency times. The government would also seek clarifications on the administrative domination of the boards of the State Irrigation department once the gazette notification comes into effect from October this year.