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TS, AP end water war
The water dispute that witnessed clash between the police forces of the two Telugu-speaking States on Friday ended in a thaw following the meeting of Chief Ministers, N Chandrababu Naidu and K Chandrashekar Rao, in the presence of Governor E S L Narasimhan on Saturday.
Hyderabad: The water dispute that witnessed clash between the police forces of the two Telugu-speaking States on Friday ended in a thaw following the meeting of Chief Ministers, N Chandrababu Naidu and K Chandrashekar Rao, in the presence of Governor E S L Narasimhan on Saturday.
- 7,000 cusecs of water released to AP by 9 pm
- Governor advises CMs to work for future
- Both agree to chalk out a plan with Centre’s help
Following a two-hour long meeting between the Chief Ministers, the TS government has agreed to release 7,000 cusecs of water by 9 pm on Saturday. The Governor, who mediated between the two warring states, asked them to put up a concrete proposal with regard to the requirements of their States detailing about how much water they had already utilised. He advised them to put all the past controversies behind and focus attention on finding a way out to save the standing crops in Prakasam and Guntur districts.
Apart from this, from the next kharif season, both the States have agreed to make coordinated efforts in chalking out an action plan with the help of officials from the Centre to meet irrigation and drinking requirements. It was decided not to allow reoccurrence of the unsavory incidents that took place at Nagarjuna Sagar Dam site on Friday, where police and officials from both States clashed. Entry of political party activists and police personnel from both sides would not be allowed. From now onwards, only engineers of both States would be allowed access to the dam site.
Release of water will be carried out in coordination with both the team of officials. The meeting had also discussed on how to meet the requirement of the drinking water for Hyderabad, Krishna Delta as well as the NSLBC till June. After the conclusion of the two-hour long meeting between the Chief Ministers, Telangana Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao and Andhra Pradesh Irrigation Minister D Umamaheswara Rao jointly addressed mediapersons.
Irrigation Engineers-in-Chief (ENCs) of both the States would sit and decide on release of water, they said. Later, Superintendent Engineer of Nagarjuna Sagar Dam Vijay Bhaskar told media in Nalgonda that by 4 pm 2,000 cusecs of water was already released downstream from the right canal after generating power and that another 5,000 cusecs would be released by 9 pm.
As far as the left canal is concerned, he said, a report would be submitted to the government after assessing the crop pattern under ayacut area of left canal and a decision would be taken accordingly. As of now no water is being released from the left bank canal, he said. Prior to the meeting between the two Chief Ministers, TS Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao met the Governor and briefed him about the water availability at Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. Later, the Governor had a one-on-one meeting with Naidu and heard his version.
Harish Rao alleged that AP had used water in excess of its share. Though TS has to protect standing crops in Nalgonda and Khammam districts, the Government was ready to be accommodative provided Andhra Pradesh comes out with a written proposal on the amount of water it needs, he said.
Naidu is learnt to have informed the Governor that Telangana was indulging in "provocative" actions. He claimed that AP had given letters to TS government and the Irrigation Minister also spoke to Harish Rao on the issue. He is learnt to have said to the Governor that Andhra Pradesh is utilising water as per project-wise allocations made by Bachawat award.
KCR, Naidu to meet PM today
Hyderabad: After arriving at a ‘temporary’ truce on water release from Nagarjuna Sagar Dam on Saturday, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his AP counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu are likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Union ministers in New Delhi on the pending water and power-sharing disputes between the two states.
Although the visit of the two CMs to the national capital on Sunday is a private affair as they are attending the marriage of BJP chief Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, the two Chief Ministers are planning to meet the PM on the contentious issues.
