New Delhi: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday pitched for Polavaram-Banakacherla lift irrigation project, the Andhra Pradesh government’s singular agenda item, at the meeting convened by Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil to discuss water issues between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy took part in the high-level meeting here.

In a report submitted to the Union Minister, the AP Chief Minister has emphasised that the proposed Banakacherla project has been designed to harness floodwaters from the Godavari River that currently flow into the sea. The report stated that while approximately 3,000 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of Godavari water drains into the sea annually, the Banakacherla project seeks to utilize only 200 TMC, ensuring no adverse impact on upstream regions or states. Chief Minister Naidu highlighted that Andhra Pradesh had not objected to any of Telangana's projects over the past 11 years. However, Telangana raised 13 issues during the discussions on Wednesday.

Following the meeting, Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Minister Nimmala Rama Naidu informed the media that the discussions on Godavari and Krishna water sharing were conducted in a friendly atmosphere. He announced that a decision was made to install a telemetry system at the outgoing canals of reservoirs to monitor water flow in Krishna basin. Both Chief Ministers underscored the critical need to protect the Srisailam project.

Rama Naidu also stated that the Krishna River Management Board would be established in Amaravati, while the Godavari River Management Board would be in Hyderabad.

He further revealed that a committee would be formed by Monday to conduct a detailed study on Banakacherla project, given its technical complexities. This committee will comprise representatives from the Central Water Commission and administrative and technical officials from both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He said that both states were happy with the fruitful discussions at the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Jal Shakti Ministry in a statement said that key issues concerning water management were deliberated upon at the meeting. “To address the remaining issues in a comprehensive and technical manner, it was decided to constitute a committee comprising senior officials and technical experts from both states and the central government. This committee will work collaboratively to study the outstanding concerns and suggest viable solutions to ensure equitable and efficient water sharing,” the ministry said. Telangana Water Resources Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Chief Secretaries, Secretaries, and engineers from the Water Resources departments of both states, were present at the meeting. ababu Naidu arrived at a consensus on some of the long-pending inter-state issues concerning riverine projects and utilization of water at a meeting chaired by Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil at the Jal Shakti Office in New Delhi on Wednesday. As for the residual contentious matters, the two Chief Ministers agreed to constitute an Official Committee with technical experts in a week to resolve pending approvals for new projects and water allocations on Godavari and Krishna rivers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Although the Telangana government had strategically sought to drop from the agenda of the high-level meeting the ticklish issue over the Godavari–Banakacherla project, the AP government upended it by making a presentation on the project from its standpoint and sought the help of the Union government to go ahead with the construction of the new project drawing 200 TMC of water. The Andhra CM claimed that the project was being constructed utilizing “only flood waters”.

At the meeting, which was attended by Irrigation Ministers and top officials of the two states, the Telangana CM came up with 13-point agenda covering various issues. Of these, the CMs reached agreements in four areas: AP accepted Revanth Reddy’s suggestion to install telemetry machines to quantify the release of water from the projects; setting up Godavari River Management Board in Telangana state and Krishna River Management Board in Andhra Pradesh; carrying out repairs to the Srisailam project and the constitution of an Official Committee to resolve pending issues concerning projects on Godavari and Krishna rivers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.