Telangana-AP Water Dispute: Centre Asks For DPRs

The two Telugu-speaking states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which have been locked in a bitter feud over the waters of the Krishna and the Godavari rivers, are no closer to resolving the issue yet.

As the water dispute between them rages on, they have both sought the Centre's intervention in the matter, which has prompted union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to instruct the Chief Ministers of the two states to submit Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of their respective states’ new irrigation projects for the sanctioning of the same.

The union minister wrote separate letters to the two CMs - he asked the Telangana CM, K Chandrashekar Rao, to submit the DPRs of the 16 new projects initiated in the state, and the Andhra Pradesh CM, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, to submit the same for the 19 new projects to be undertaken in AP.

To KCR, Shekhawat wrote that the state had not yet submitted the DPRs of any of its new projects so far, and urged the CM to do so at the earliest.

The CM has been asked to submit the DPRs for the following projects - the Krishna Basin Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (LIS), the R Vidyasagar Rao Dindi LIS, the Bhakta Ramadasu LIS, the Water Grid Projects under Mission Bhagiratha, the Tummilla Irrigation Scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi Kalwakurthy LIS, the Jawahar Nettempadu LIS and the Alimineti Madhava Reddy Srisailam Left Bank Canal Project among some others.

In his letter to Jagan, Shekhwat asked the CM to resubmit the details of a few projects, including the Sangmeswar Lift Irrigation Scheme, as they had "failed to meet the stipulated norms and guidelines of a DPR".

The AP administration will also be required to submit the DPRs for the Muchumarri LIS, the Gundrevula reservoir, the LIS for the supplementation of the Gajuladinne ayacut, the Guru Raghavendra LIS, the Pulikanuma LIS, the Siddapuram LIS, the Sivabhasyam LIS, the Munneru scheme, the capacity enhancement of the RDS right canal, the new LIS on the Tungabhadra river between the RDS and the Sunkesula barrage, the capacity enhancement of the Vaikuntapuram barrage on the river Krishna (upstream of the Prakasam Barrage), and the project for the interlinking of the Godavari and the Pennar rivers among several others.

This may prove to be an important step in resolving the water dispute between the two states as the Centre will reportedly also hold a joint meeting with the states following the submission of the DPRs.