Despite hard-line stance on Banakacherla, Telangana CM to attend Jal Shakti meeting

Telangana CM Revanth Reddy will attend a water-sharing meet in Delhi, opposing Andhra's Banakacherla project while pushing for Krishna-Godavari project approvals and national status for key schemes.

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister, A Revanth Reddy will participate in the critical interstate water-sharing meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday convened by Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil, despite the state’s strong opposition to discuss Andhra Pradesh’s Polavaram-Penakacherla Link Project.

Sources confirmed that Telangana was open to discussions on broader water allocation issues concerning the Krishna and Godavari rivers. But it is not going to take part in any kind of deliberations on the Banakacherla project, which is the single point agenda proposed by AP.

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In a letter sent to the Centre on Tuesday morning, Telangana firmly reiterated its stance that the Rs 81,900 crore Banakacherla project, which aims to divert Godavari floodwaters to Rayalaseema, need be discussed at this juncture. The state argued that the project violates the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal Award of 1980 and the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014.

It is lacking mandatory approvals from the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) and the Central Water Commission (CWC), and Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC). Telangana’s letter emphasized that discussing Banakacherla would undermine the central regulatory bodies. The state has already made it clear that it would be opting for a legal course, including approaching the Supreme Court in case it tried to go ahead with Banakacherla.

Despite this hardline stance, Chief Minister Reddy’s decision to attend the meeting alongside AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is intended to make it clear that Telangana is keen on engaging on the 10-point agenda proposed by it. This includes securing approvals for pending Krishna River projects like Palamuru-Rangareddy and Dindi, seeking national project status for them, and demanding 80 TMC of water for the Pranahita project at Tummadihatti, alongside 200 TMC for a proposed Inchampalli project.

Telangana also proposed an alternative Inchampalli-Nagarjuna Sagar linkage to divert Godavari waters and urged central support to implement it.