The Godavari River Management Board (GRMB), in a letter to the Telangana government, has ordered it to stop Kaleswaram and all irrigation projects it was taking up on the Godavari river.
GRMB member P. S. Kutiyal in a letter dated May 30, asked the Telangana government not to go ahead with any new project on the river.
Saying that the letter was being written as per the directions of the Ministry of Jal Sakthi (Water Resources), the GRMB asked the Telangana government not to go ahead with the new projects as they did not have the permission of the Apex Council as defined in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
The GRMB mentioned in the letter that a complaint was lodged against Telangana State by the Special Chief Secretary, Water Resources, Andhra Pradesh.
The A.P. government in its letter listed Kaleswaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (LIS), GLIS Phase-III, Sita Rama LIS, Tupakulagudem, Telangana Drinking Water Supply Project (TDWSP), Ramappa Lake to Pakhal Lake Diversion and three barrages on Lower Penganga River all utilising over 450 tmcft as new projects that were not approved by the Apex Council.
Only one meet till date
The Apex Council, consisting of the Chief Ministers of the Telugu States and the Union Water Resources Minister, has till now met only once when Uma Bharti was the Union Minister. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the then A.P. Minister N Chandrababu Naidu attended the meeting.
It may be recalled the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) wrote a similar letter to the A.P. government asking it not to proceed with the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation and a few other schemes it proposed upstream the Srisailam reservoir and near the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator on the Krishna River.
The AP government then wrote letters to the KRMB, the GRMB and the Jal Shakti Minister about the several projects Telangana government had been building without the approval of the Apex Council.
As per the Reorganisation Act, the Telugu States can take up work only on those projects that were still incomplete at the time of bifurcation.
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