Telangana govt vows to protect its share of Godavari, Krishna waters

The Telangana government has decided to protect the rights of the state in the Godavari and Krishna river waters at any cost. A high-level meeting chaired by chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao unanimously decided that there was no question of losing even a single drop of water and resolved that the state government is ready to fight for its rights to any extent.

Hyderabad: The High-level meeting held under the chairmanship of chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has decided to protect the rights of the state in the Godavari, Krishna Rivers and its water allocation come what may.

There is a unanimous decision at the meeting that there was no question of losing even a single drop of water and resolved that the state government is ready to fight for its rights to any extent.

A high-level meeting took place on Thursday at Pragathi Bhavan on the letter written by Central Water Resources Ministry Secretary MP Singh to the state government to express its opinion to convene the Water Resources Ministry Apex Council meeting on August 5 to resolve the water disputes between the Telangana State and AP.

The high-level meeting was attended by the Water Resources Department experts and other officials.

The Central Water Resources ministry has decided August 5 as the date for the Apex Council meeting to resolve water disputes between the Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh.

There was a feeling expressed in the meeting that since there are other government programmes on August 5 it may cause inconvenience.

The High-level Review meeting suggested to the chief secretary to write a letter to the Centre to have the Apex Council meeting after Aug 20, after the completion of the Independence Day celebrations on Aug 15.

The meeting felt that the working of the Central water resources Ministry in finding a solution to the water disputes between the two states is almost funny and it expressed its dissatisfaction over the matter.

Several people who participated in the meeting felt that the Centre had failed miserably in ensuring proper sharing of waters between the two newly formed states.

It was a tradition that the centre should ensure that justice is being done for both the states, but the Centre had failed.

In case there are no water disputes between the two states; water sharing should be done under the Union Water Resources Minister.

If they are disputes, the responsibility to resolve the disputes should be entrusted to the Tribunal.

The Telangana state had been requesting that, since there are water disputes between the two states, the responsibility to resolve them should be handed over to the Tribunal.

The meeting severely condemned the way the Central Water Resources ministry turning a deaf ear to the Telangana government's requests, according to Telangana CMO.

The meeting felt that the Central Water Resources Ministry at least now should leave this deplorable behaviour.

There was anguish expressed in the meeting that it was due to the irresponsible behaviour of the Centre that both the states are paying a heavy price.

There was a unanimous decision at the meeting that all the court cases, tribunal disputes should be resolved and there was no good happens if there is a continuous clash on the matter, the release said.

(With inputs from ANI and IANS)