Telangana, Maharashtra To Ink Godavari Pact

A much-awaited pact will be inked today by the Telangana and Maharashtra governments on the Godavari waters and other projects including Tummidihattti, Itchampalli and Lendi, putting an end to the water wars between the two riparian States.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will sign with his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis on August 23, the deal that will set the water-sharing rules for the shared irrigation and water projects of the two States.

In a press meet, the Telangana Chief Minister said that with this, the two States would turn the page in their histories.

The Telangana government would also focus on maintaining friendly and mutually beneficial relationships with all its neighbouring States to complete pending projects, he said.

Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao alleged that the previous united AP governments had stalled several projects, and had also failed to nurture relationships with Maharashtra and Karnataka conducive to development. He also blamed the former regimes' partisanship towards the Andhra region for the current irrigation and water supply problems being faced by Telangana.

The Godavari pact will be signed under an Inter-State Board comprising the two Chief Ministers and irrigation ministers, other concerned secretaries and officials, and a Central government water resources panel to monitor it.