Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao are expected to meet again in the third week of July in Amaravati to take the discussions on river water sharing to a further level.
During the recent meeting held at Hyderabad on June 28, KCR came up with a series of proposals on diverting Godavari rivers to Krishna so as to utilise maximum waters by both the states.
A joint committee of the officials belonging to both the states is working on the proposals and come up with a concrete action plan, which would be put forth before both the chief ministers at their next meeting.
However, sources in the irrigation department say the proposals are easier said than done. Already, both the states are struggling to decide Krishna water sharing at Srisailam and Nagarjunsagar even in the peak season.
If the Godavari water has to be diverted to Krishna basin, who will construct the projects including barrages, tunnels and canals? Assuming that both the states will bear the project cost, who will have ownership over these projects?
Since the projects would be geographically located in Telangana, the ownership will be with the Telangana government and one wonders why AP should bear the cost for projects to be owned by Telangana?
Who will bear the cost of power that is required to lift Godavari water and take it to Krishna basin?
What will AP do, if the Telangana does not release water from Godavari into these canals and barrages that take it to Krishna basin?
What will both the states do, if Karnataka and Maharashtra also ask for a share in the Godavari waters to be diverted to Krishna basin?
Well, there are many other issues which cannot be resolved so easily. The officials are said to be struggling to find answers to these questions.
