KCR, Jagan focus on river linking

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy called on his counterpart, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao at Pragati Bhavan on Thursday and discussed various unresolved issues between the two states.

The three-hour long discussion primarily focussed on linking of

Krishna and Godavari river waters.

Jagan is said to have apprised KCR about the discussion that took place in the State Assembly on sharing of river waters.

Both the chief ministers are learnt to have asked the officers to prepare a report on the point from where the water is to be diverted and how much land acquisition would be required, the cost involved in it and who should bear the cost of land acquisition.

Once the report is made ready, the two chief ministers will again meet some during mid-August to take the issue forward. They also resolved to address amicably the division of assets under the AP Reorganisation Act at the meeting convened by the Centre on August 8 in New Delhi.

Jagan was accompanied by his party MP Mithun Reddy and Advisor to AP government S Ramakrishna Reddy. TRS MP J Santhosh Kumar and party senior leader B Vinod Kumar were also present in the meeting.

The two Chief Ministers had earlier met on June 28 in Hyderabad and decided to prepare an action plan for the judicious utilisation of Krishna and Godavari water so that it could benefit both the Telugu states.

On Thursday, they reviewed the progress on the proposal and the report prepared by the engineers committee consisting of engineers from both the states. The irrigation officials of Andhra and Telangana had held two rounds of meetings before preparing a report on the feasibility.

The two chief ministers also discussed about the possible challenges they may have to encounter like getting permission from the Centre to interlink the two rivers and objections which the upper riparian states may raise.

Sources said that the next meeting is likely to be held in Tirupati. Jagan and KCR also took stock of the status of division of assets and bifurcation related demands pending before the Centre.

The two CMs wanted to address the division issues in a cordial manner like handing over of the AP owned buildings in Secretariat to Telangana state.

The two CMs also committed to resolve the payment of power dues without any financial burden on the two states. The top officials of the two states were already instructed to present their grievances regarding the division issues in the meeting organised by the Union Home Ministry in a friendly manner.

Immediately after landing in Hyderabad, Jagan met Governor ESL Narasimhan and exchanged his views on resolving the inter-state issues. The meeting between the two lasted for more than 40 minutes, sources said.

He is believed to have discussed various issues. It was Jagan's first meeting with Narasimhan after the Central Government appointed a new Governor for Andhra Pradesh.

This meeting assumes significance as the Union Home Ministry has convened a meeting in New Delhi on August 8 to discuss issues pertaining to division of employees, assets and other related subjects between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

After the meetings, Jagan left for Mumbai from where he will fly to Jerusalem. He would return to Hyderabad on August 5.