Hyderabad: River meet put off indefinitely

Hyderabad: A solution to the imbroglio over the alleged illegal projects taken up by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on river Krishna and Godavari is unlikely to be found soon as the Apex Council meeting, which was scheduled to be held on August 25, has been postponed following Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat testing positive for coronavirus.

The Union Ministry has sent an official communication to the effect to the state government on Sunday. The revised dates would be intimated soon. This is the second time the Apex Council meeting was postponed. The first scheduled meeting on August 5 was cancelled on the request of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who scheduled a Cabinet meeting on the same day.

The council meeting is unlikely to be held until September second or third week as the Union minister will have to recover from the viral infection, officials said.

Official sources said the senior Irrigation officials had already submitted the details of the illegal projects taken up by Andhra Pradesh and how its efforts to exploit Krishna water from the proposed Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme would harm the interests of Telangana.

They have also objected to the enhancement of Pothireddypadu Head Regulator without seeking the nod from the upper riparian state of Telangana.