CM KCR to chair a high level meeting with Water Resources department officials today

The State government is gearing up to give a befitting reply to the Andhra Pradesh government’s arguments on river water sharing at the Apex Council meeting scheduled to be held on October 6. Besides taking the Centre to task, the State government will make a firm demand for absolute clarity on the allocation of water to the Telangana State. To be chaired by Union Minister for Jal Shakthi Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the meeting will be attended by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

Chandrashekhar Rao will chair a high-level meeting with the Water Resources department officials on Thursday at Pragathi Bhavan to discuss on the strategy to be adapted at the Apex Council meeting. He instructed the officials concerned to come with complete data and information on the Telangana State Water Resources department and issues to be placed before the Central government.

The Chief Minister felt that the Andhra Pradesh State was intentionally creating disputes on the river water sharing and emphasised the need to give a befitting reply to it’s arguments at the Apex Council meeting. 

“We need to give complete clarity on the prevailing issues so that the AP government will not raise them again. We also must take the opportunity to expose the seven years of



delay caused by the Centre and its inactive role on the matter. We shall utilise the Apex Council meeting to tell facts to the entire country as well as to thwart attempts made to undermine the rights of Telangana people,” he said.

Chandrashekhar Rao pointed out that as per the States Bifurcation Acts, whenever a new State is formed, it should be allocated its water share. The Chief Minister wrote a letter to the Prime Minister in this regard on June 14 in 2014 in less than a fortnight after the Telangana State was formed on June 2. In the letter, he requested the Centre for allocation of water to Telangana State by constituting a Special tribunal under Section (3) of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act 1956 or through the existing Tribunal.

“We also suggested that the water allocation should be done between Telangana State and Andhra Pradesh or among the river basin States. Even after seven years, there has been no response to the letter. The Centre kept mum on the issue and has been only pretending to be action upon our requests by convening the Apex Council meetings. But in reality, the Centre had done nothing so far,” the Chief Minister explained. He wanted the officials to prepare all arguments in support of the just demands of the Telangana State on the matter.