Hyderabad, Aug 20 (IANS): Sparks are likely to fly at the apex council meeting convened by the Union Water Resources Ministry on August 25 to sort out the differences between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over certain irrigation projects across both Krishna and Godavari rivers.
With the Telangana government already approaching the Supreme Court to bar Andhra Pradesh from going ahead with the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS) and the latter raising its objection to some projects undertaken by Telangana, the meeting is likely to be a stormy affair.
Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, is likely to hold the virtual meeting of the apex council, which has Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy as the members.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, has indicated that Telangana will be taking a tough stand over Andhra Pradesh's objections to the projects across Krishna and Godavari rivers while seeking a halt to the RLIS.
Welcoming the Centre's decision to hold apex council meeting on August 25, KCR said that all the disputes and doubts expressed by the Andhra government and the Centre on sharing of river water will be clarified and cleared.
He also decided to write a letter to the Centre, expressing acceptance to participate in the apex council meeting, saying that he would suggest issues to be incorporated in the agenda for the meeting.
KCR on Wednesday discussed with top officials the strategy to be adopted at the apex council meeting. He asked the officials concerned to prepare comprehensive information on all the objections that Andhra and the Centre had put forth in order to clarify them during the meeting.
The Telangana CM made it clear that that there were no new projects in Telangana and that the projects approved in the united Andhra Pradesh were redesigned to suit the needs of the Telangana state.
The meeting decided to strongly oppose and register the objections over enhancing the capacity of Pothireddypadu as well as the new RLIS project taken up by the Andhra government.
He asked the officials to take Andhra government to task for illegally utilising water from Godavari and Krishna rivers in contravention to the Bachawat Tribunal Award.
KCR made it clear that the so-called objections raised by the Andhra government and the Centre have no meaning and were baseless.
In separate letters to the two Chief Ministers earlier this month, Union minister Shekhawat had urged them not to proceed with the projects being objected to by each other.
Telangana has raised serious objections to Andhra government's administrative sanction to draw and utilise six to eight TMC of water per day from the Srisailam reservoir on Krishna river.
The KCR-led government alleged that it is in violation of the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 and detrimental to the interests of Telangana.
Andhra Pradesh, on the other hand, had raised objections to six irrigation projects or schemes, including the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme taken up by Telangana on Godavari river.
Shekhwat, in a letter to Jagan Mohan Reddy, had stated that Andhra should not proceed with these projects, including calling and awarding the tenders as objected to by Telangana without submitting the detailed project reports (DPRs) to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) for appraisal and also without obtaining the sanction of the apex council.
He also urged Telangana not to proceed with the above projects objected to by Andhra without submitting the DPRs to the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) for appraisal and also without obtaining the sanction of apex council.
Jagan Mohan Reddy, in his response to Shekhawat, stated that RLIS is "not a new project" and it will not affect the water needs of Telangana.
He said Andhra Pradesh was drawing only the share allocated to the state by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT).
He claimed that RLIS is not a new project, and not completing the project will adversely impact six districts.
Reddy wrote that Andhra Pradesh is not drawing even its legitimate share of water from the Krishna river and the projects taken up by Telangana will adversely cut into Andhra's share of water.
"Because of that, Andhra Pradesh is left with no option other than to take up the RLIS. Moreover, restraining Andhra from undertaking the RLIS with no similar direction to Telangana in the past would result in irreparable damage to AP's interests," he said.
He mentioned that Telangana had taken up two lift irrigation schemes on Krishna river in violation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
On a writ petition filed by Andhra, the Supreme Court had directed the Union Ministry of Water Resources to convene the apex council meeting.
"The apex council was held in 2016, but the meeting did not give any directions to the Telangana government. Subsequently, Andhra Pradesh demanded a second meeting of apex council, which is not convened till date," wrote the Andhra CM.
Reddy also urged Shekhawat to lift the embargo imposed on RLIS and facilitate Andhra Pradesh to go ahead with the project.
Earlier, Telangana approached the Supreme Court seeking stay orders against the controversial order issued by the Andhra Pradesh government inviting tenders for the construction of RLIS.
In its petition, Telangana alleged that the Andhra Pradesh government took unilateral decision and invited tenders for the construction of the RLIS, expansion of the Pothireddypadu project and also increasing the capacity of the Srisailam Right Bank Canal.
In response to Telangana's complaint against RILS, the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) had written to the Andhra Pradesh government that the project shall not be taken up until the same is appraised by the Central Water Commission (CWC) or the board, and gets the apex council's sanction.
The water row which erupted in May has virtually brought curtains on nearly a year-long bonhomie which marked the relations between the two Telugu states after the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party stormed to power in Andhra Pradesh.
The two CMs had not only agreed to amicably resolve all their water-sharing disputes, but had also decided to divert water from the Godavari river to the Krishna river to tide over the water scarcity in parts of both the Telugu states.
Both KCR and Reddy during full-fledged talks in June last year had noted that the availability of water in Krishna was less, which was causing hardship in the Rayalaseema region in Andhra Pradesh as well as in some districts in Telangana.
They had announced that the disputes and issues pertaining to river water sharing have been forgotten in the spirit of "let bygones be bygones" and both the states were in unanimity to provide optimum benefit to their people.