Live
- GMR Airports Unveils AI-Powered Digital Twin Platform to Transform Airport Operations
- India poised to become leading maritime player: PM Modi
- Top Causes of Kidney Stones and How to Recognize Silent Symptoms
- India’s renewable energy capacity logs 14.2 pc growth at 213.7 GW
- Winter Session of Odisha Assembly adjourned sine die
- Biden calls Trump's tariff approach 'major mistake'
- After Drama Over Eknath Shinde’s Chief Minister Race, Maharashtra Cabinet Formation Faces New Tensions
- Egyptian FM, Blinken discuss recent developments in Syria
- Iran's supreme leader says Syria's developments result of US-Israeli 'plot'
- Elon Musk to Purchase $100 Million Luxury Mansion Next to Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago, Report Reveals
Centre’s balm for stopgap pain relief
The Centre on Thursday asked the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to continue with the previous year’s arrangements on sharing of Krishna waters, for one more month.
KRISHNA WATER ROW
TS, AP asked to continue previous year’s arrangement for one more month
- Says it will constitute an Apex committee as a last resort
- TS, AP continue to level charges against each other
New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday asked the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to continue with the previous year’s arrangements on sharing of Krishna waters, for one more month. After one month, the Centre said it would constitute a three-member committee comprised of former members of the Central Water Commission (CWC) which will propose an amicable solution in three months.
Should AP and TS not find the solution to their liking, the Centre would constitute an Apex Committee as a last resort. This was the outcome of more than two days of deliberations in the national capital over the conflict regarding the sharing of Krishna waters by the two States amid a mounting trust-deficit.
Incidentally, the Apex Committee of the Water Resources Ministry, which the Centre proposes to set up as a last resort should have been constituted immediately after bifurcation. With tempers running high on both sides, the Centre hopes the one- month extension would serve as a ‘cooling-off’ period for both States.
On Thursday morning, the Irrigation Ministers of AP and TS, T Harish Rao and Devineni Uma Maheswar Rao met again for two hours in the presence of Amarjeet Singh, Special Secretary of the Union Water Resources Ministry. However, there was no change in the conflicting stands of the two States. While AP continued to insist on Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) jurisdiction on all irrigation projects on the river, TS insisted on sticking to the Bachawat Tribunal ruling.
The plea of AP that the control over release of water into the Right Canal of Nagarjuna Sagar project, be handed over to it was ridiculed by Telangana as a ‘hitherto unheard of arrangement’. Finding no immediate way out of the imbroglio, the Centre came up with a stop-gap arrangement asking the States to abide by the previous year’s arrangement for one more month.
While Devineni complained to the Ministry that Telangana was depriving AP of drinking water by using Srisailam water for power generation and refusing to release Sagar water on time, Harish Rao complained that Telangana’s rightful share of an additional 90 tmc of water was being refused by AP.
Both the Ministers told the Centre to come up with a temporary arrangement that would be acceptable to both States while promising not to usurp even a single drop of the other’s share. After the meeting, Devineni flew down to Hyderabad while Harish Rao left for Maharashtra to cement the water- sharing arrangement of TS with that State.
