Telangana, Maharashtra Ink Godavari Pact

In an inter-State board meeting held at the Sahyadri Guest House in Mumbai today, the Chief Ministers of Telangana and Maharashtra signed a pact agreeing to share the Godavari, Pranahitha and Penganga river waters.

The irrigation ministers of the two States T Harish Rao and Girish Mahajan co-signed the pact in the presence of Telangana Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma.

Expressing satisfaction over the conditions of the pact and the proposed plan of constructing three barrages on the rivers shared by the two States, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis vowed to cooperate to develop the irrigation and agricultural sectors of the two States.

They also swore to make ample use of the shared waters with minimal wastage.

The two governments will now take up all relevant projects that have been stagnant for decades.

The Telangana government also agreed to the condition put forth by the Krishna Tribunal of sharing the Krishna waters with Maharashtra.

Under the Godavari river water project, 18 lakh acres of land will be irrigated in the Karimnagar, Warangal, Medak, Nizamabad, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy districts, 18 lakh acres of irrigated land will be stabilized, and 2 lakh acres of land will be submerged under the Sriramsagar, Nizamsagar and Singur reservoirs.

Under the same project, the State government will also construct a 100-metre high barrage at Medigadda on the Godavari river to store 16 TMCs of water as part of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project.

Under the Pranahitha river water project, a 148-metre high reservoir will be constructed on the river to preserve 1.8 TMC of water.

And under the Penganga river water project, the ongoing construction of the 213-metre high Chanaka-Korata barrage at the Penganga river will be completed and 0.85 TMC of water will be preserved.

These projects will also help irrigate crops in Thamsi, Jainatha and Bela mandals in the Adilabad district and also irrigate districts on the Maharashtrian side of the border.

The members of the inter-State board included Telangana Finance Minister Etela Rajender, Telangana Revenue Minister Mahmood Ali, Telangana Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna, Maharashtra Public Affairs Minister Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mangatrai, Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao and Minister Of State for Home Affairs Hansaraj Gangaram.