Nagarjuna Sagar: Jal Shakti Ministry to hold high-level meeting on Dec 6

The meeting convened by the Secretary, Department of Water Resources, will be held virtually with the Chief Secretaries, Irrigation Secretaries and DGPs of Telangana and AP along with representatives of the CWC and KRMB

Hyderabad: A high-level meeting will be held by the Ministry of Jal Shakti on December 6 to discuss issues over sharing of Krishna river waters and management of joint projects of the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in the basin including Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam.

The meeting convened by the Secretary, Department of Water Resources, will be held virtually with the Chief Secretaries, Irrigation Secretaries and DGPs of Telangana and AP along with representatives of the Central Water Commission and Krishna River Management Board.

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The Secretary of Water Resources, Debashree Mukherjee, who had reportedly asked for reports from the stakeholder agencies on the situation prevailing at the Nagarjuna Sagar Project following its occupation by armed forces deployed by AP, wanted to have the first round of talks with the officials of the two States in the day.

But the Chief Secretary of Telangana, A Santhi Kumari, has requested for rescheduling the meeting after December 5, since she and her officials had a hectic schedule in the day because of preparations in progress for counting of votes due on Sunday. Mukherjee however had talks with the Chief Secretary of AP, Jawahar Reddy and reviewed the developments.

In a last minute intervention, Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla had a video conference with officials of the two States on Friday and discussed the fall out of the dam occupation by AP forces . His message was loud and clear on the issue. He wanted AP to withdraw its forces making way for deployment of the CRPF at the dam. He also directed officials of both the states to help restore status quo as on November 28 to restore normality. Endorsing the stand of the Home secretary, the Secretary for Water Resources assured AP that she would help resolve all issues to end the stalemate. She wanted both the states to exercise restraint.

KRMB meeting on Dec 4

On the water indent given by AP seeking additional releases, Secretary of Water Resources directed the KRMB Chairman Sivanandan to hold a meeting of the Board on December 4 to take call on the indents of both the states. She assured the riparian states that the Central government would help resolve all issues related water sharing and ensure justice to both sides.

All set for CRPF deployment

Two battalions of the CRPF reached the project site on Saturday morning and two more battalions were on the way, according to the project officials. Despite the directions of the Home Secretary for the immediate withdrawal of the AP Police from the dam, they continued to be in possession of vantage points of the project including the right canal head regulator till late in the evening .

The AP government had lodged a complaint against officials of Telangana State who were in operational control of the Dam. The complaint was viewed as a tit-for-tat reaction of AP authorities in response to the complaint lodged by Telangana officials against AP police who went on the rampage destroying the CCTV cameras and other equipment at the dam office before their forcible occupation of the dam on November 29.

More details:

TS seeks rescheduling of high level meeting after Dec 5

KRMB to meet on December 4 to discuss fresh water indents

Stage set for deployment of four battalions of CRPF at the dam

AP lodges complaint with police against TS officials

Secretary water resources urges TS and AP for restraint