Telangana not to part with control of projects in Godavari basin

Hyderabad: Telangana has categorically informed the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) that it could not share any information about projects in Godavari basin, except Peddavagu Medium Irrigation Project. A three-member team – Sridhar Rao Deshpande, OSD to the Chief Minister, Inter-State Water Resources Superintending Engineer R Koteswara Rao and Executive Engineer Subramanya Prasad protested the […]

Hyderabad: Telangana has categorically informed the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) that it could not share any information about projects in Godavari basin, except Peddavagu Medium Irrigation Project.

A three-member team – Sridhar Rao Deshpande, OSD to the Chief Minister, Inter-State Water Resources Superintending Engineer R Koteswara Rao and Executive Engineer Subramanya Prasad protested the preparation handing over note of Godavari Lift Irrigation Scheme (GLIS) intake pump house at Gangaram and Geesukonda cross regulator on Kakatiya canal as GRMB visited the sites without involving sub-committee members.

During the sub-committee meeting chaired by the member secretary at Jal Soudha here, the team said, “We have not received orders from the government with respect to projects in Telangana other than Peddavagu Medium Irrigation Project for sharing of information under clauses 1(i), 1(j), 1(k) of the gazette notification.”

“We will take action as per directions of government in the matter and we will not give any commitment on the handing over note,” the team said.

They made it clear to the Board that there was no necessity for deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is a burden on the State exchequer, as there are no common projects, catering to the needs of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

As per Clause-4 of the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) Award, States are at liberty to transfer any part of their share to any other basin. The GLIS and Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP) were sanctioned and grounded by combined State of AP.

Then, government had no objection for the transfer of water in Godavari basin to supply irrigation water to the areas in Krishna basin. Now, after bifurcation, AP is objecting this transfer which is not acceptable to Telangana.

“We have requested the Board to give sufficient time to study the handing over note. We will discuss with the Secretary, ENC and project engineers so as to assess the correctness of the report,” the team said.

The Board agreed to postpone the discussion to the next meeting and asked the Chief Engineers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to finalize the next date.

The meeting was mainly convened to discuss and finalize handing over notes on pump house at Ganagaram of J Chokka Rao Lift Irrigation Scheme and cross regulator on Kakatiya canal near Geesukonda under SRSP. However, the team members said they cannot share any information.

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