Telangana for water bonding with AP

Telangana for water bonding with AP
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Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has pitched for ‘water bonding\' with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Stating that his philosophy was to ‘Live and let live’, the CM announced that he would take up the initiative to resolve pending water disputes with his AP counterpart and help in optimum utilisation of water from River Godavari and River Krishna by both the Telugu speaking states. 

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has pitched for ‘water bonding' with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Stating that his philosophy was to ‘Live and let live’, the CM announced that he would take up the initiative to resolve pending water disputes with his AP counterpart and help in optimum utilisation of water from River Godavari and River Krishna by both the Telugu speaking states.

In his three-hour power point presentation on ‘Irrigation – Challenges before Telangana’ in the Assembly on Thursday, he said that illegal construction of projects on River Godavari and river Krishna by Maharashtra and Karnataka posed a big threat to the survival of Telangana and also Andhra Pradesh as the newly born states are deprived of the utilisation of their rightful share of water after neighbouring states blocked the flow of water by constructing hundreds of minor barrages on both the rivers.

Nearly 455 illegal barrages have been constructed by our upstream neighbours, resulting in drastic drop in inflows into Telangana. “Telangana has got nearly 1000 TMC of water as its share from River Godavari and 299 TMC of assured water from River Krishna, totaling 1300 TMC water to the state. With the construction of hundreds of barrages and lifts, the flow of water to Telangana is on a rapid decline," he said. Given the situation, the CM asserted that he would take the lead and seek mutual cooperation between AP and Telangana for utilisation of water from the two rivers in an amicable way.

Similar to the understanding arrived with Maharashtra on the utilisation of water; the CM said that he would take the initiative to resolve pending water disputes with Andhra Pradesh.“Government is ready to address the disputes with AP just as Telangana succeeded in breaking the deadlock with Maharashtra on the construction of long pending barrages, including Tummidihatti on River Godavari.”

"Farmers living in the two states should not suffer from water crisis. Since AP is our permanent geographical neighbour, the state and people living in both the states belong to the Telugu community," he said. He said he had earlier suggested to his AP counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu to utilise Godavari water to quench the thirst of Rayalaseema and also north coastal Andhra.

Telangana could utilise only 600 to 1000 TMC of water from Godavari. Water needs would be addressed effectively if AP takes up projects in a constructive way. The projects taken up on River Godavari in Khammam district would also help AP. The CM said he would also send the ‘pen drive’ loaded with his presentation data to Naidu.

The Chief Minister apologised to MLCs for not accommodating them in the Assembly due to statutory constraints. While most of the MLCs witnessed CM's presentation live on TVs installed in the Council, some of them turned up at the Assembly gallery to watch the presentation.

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