The second meeting of the Apex Council, which was scheduled to be held via video-conferencing on August 25, has been postponed again due to “unavoidable circumstances”.
Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, respectively, were supposed to discuss issues related to the Godavari and Krishna River Management Boards (GRMB & KRMB), including the recent developments related to AP’s plans to divert Krishna water with the Rayalaseema lift scheme and by enhancing the water drawal capacity of the Pothireddypadu regulator.
The council was initially planned to meet on August 5 but it was postponed after the Telangana Chief Minister expressed inability to attend the meeting even virtually on the date because of prior engagements and requested the MoJS to hold it any time after August 20. Accordingly, the MoJS fixed the meeting for August 25.
After its constitution, the first and only Apex Council meeting was held on September 21, 2016, without arriving at any consensus on the projects being taken up by the two States. It was chaired by the then Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati and Chief Ministers of AP and Telangana N. Chandrababu Naidu (then) and K. Chandrasekhar Rao, respectively.
Constituted under the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Apex Council is mandated to supervise the functioning of GRMB and KRMB, approve the proposals for construction of new projects, if any, based on Godavari or Krishna river water, after getting the proposals appraised and recommended by the River Management Boards and by the Central Water Commission (CWC), resolve any disputes amicably arising out of the sharing of river water through negotiations and mutual agreement between the two States and reference of any disputes not covered under Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.
In a communication sent to the Chief Secretaries of the two States, the chairman of the CWC and the chairpersons of the two river boards, an official of the MoJS said the new date of the Apex Council meeting would be intimated soon.