Andhra, T’gana to finalise river water-sharing soon

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, June 30

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will meet again in Amaravati in two weeks to resolve the inter-state disputes, with river water sharing topping the agenda. Andhra Pradesh has been demanding a major share of water being a lower riparian state.

AP Chief Secretary LV Subrahmanyam disclosed that the two-day conclave between the CM and officials of the two Telugu states had yielded good results with most of the inter-state pending issues taken up. Telangana is persuading the neighbouring state to accept the move to link Godavari and Krishna so that both can benefit from such an arrangement and water does not flow into the ocean.

The officials have been asked to come up with a report on water sharing that aim at resolving the issue. “KCR has already announced that the two states will work on the principal of “give and take” and Reddy has accepted that.

Reddy, who left for Vishakhapatnam after the first day’s meeting announced that both governments were committed to resolving to utilise the Godavari to mitigate water problems in Rayalaseema region in AP and Palamuru Nalgonda areas in Telangana. This, he said, was based on reports submitted by officials, which suggest diverting four thousand million cubic feet (4 TMC) of water from the Godavari to Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam projects.

Give & take policy

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has already announced that the two states will work on the principal of “give and take” and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has already accepted that.