Apex council meet between Telangana & AP deferred as Jal Shakti minister tests coronavirus positive

Apex council meeting between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh which is scheduled to be held on August 25 has been postponed after the council chairman and Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has tested positive for coronavirus and has been hospitalized.

This was the second time that the meeting got postponed in a months' time. Earlier, the apex council meeting was supposed to be held on August 5 but was deferred on the request of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. The union ministry of Jal Shakti officially notified the postponement of the meeting to both the governments separately.

The meeting was called after the Telangana government objected the AP government on drawing of 3 tmc of water every day from Srisailam reservoir by augmenting Pothireddypadu head regulator.

The apex council which was constituted as per the provisions in AP reorganisation act, 2014 has Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh as its chairman and the Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as its members.

According to the sources, the meeting is likely to be rescheduled in September. This is the second apex council meet after bifurcation of AP and Telangana in 2014.