Telangana, Andhra Pradesh water war: Central meet in June

HYDERABAD: With both Telangana and AP at loggerheads over new lift irrigation projects and sharing of river water, the Centre has decided to iron out contentious issues between the two Telugu states. This development comes a day after the National Green Tribunal, southern zone, on Wednesday stayed the construction of a lift irrigation project proposed by AP.
The apex council headed by Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is expected to convene a meeting in the first week of June with chief ministers — K Chandrasekhar Rao and YS Jaganmohan Reddy.
The department of water resources wrote letters to Telangana and AP governments on Thursday to send agenda points for the coming meeting of the apex council, which would follow the guidelines of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
Under-secretary of the ministry of jal shakti AC Mallick, in his letters, said: “As per the minutes of meeting held in January 2020 to discuss issues of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and Godavari River Management Board (GRMB), both states had agreed to submit their agenda points for the next meet. These are still awaited from both states.”
Meanwhile, a three-member KRMB committee is meeting irrigation officials in Hyderabad on Friday, sources said.