Chief Ministers of both States ink pact on inter-State board on Godavari projects like Lendi, Lower Penganga, Pranahita which include barrages at Chanakha-Korata, Rajapet, Penpahad and the newly-proposed Medigadda.

Chief Ministers of Telangana and Maharashtra K. Chandrasekhar Rao and Devendra Fadnavis, respectively, unveiled a new chapter in the inter-State relations in the country by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Mumbai on Tuesday for establishing an inter-State water board on Godavari projects.

The agreement is expected to end decades of discord between the two States on utilisation of water of the Godavari and its tributaries and pave the pay for the two States to take up and complete irrigation projects which have been mired in disputes all these years, particularly pending projects such as Lendi, Lower Penganga, Pranahita which include barrages at Chanakha-Korata, Rajapet, Penpahad and the newly-proposed Medigadda.

The proposed inter-State board to be headed by the two Chief Minister alternatively every year would help work out mutually-agreeable specifications on the construction of Medigadda barrage as part of the Kaleshwaram project and a component of the redesigned Pranahita-Chevella project.

The barrage would allow irrigation of 16.4 lakh acres in Telangana and over 50,000 acres in some tribal areas of Maharashtra with the help of four small lift irrigation schemes.

A meeting of the new board likely to be held in a fortnight’s time would decide the height, full reservoir level (FRL), of the Tummidihatti and Medigadda barrages. The FRL of barrage near Tummidihatti is likely to be 148 meters while that of Medigadda could be anywhere between 100 and 103 meters.

Speaking after inking the bilateral document, Mr. Fadnavis said they had agreed for the pact with Telangana after the neighbouring State had explained and convinced it about various possibilities on taking up the two barrages on which Maharashtra had serious objections. “It’s a historic agreement by all means when several States are at loggerheads on issues related to river waters,” Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said.

“We are ready to take up construction of Medigadda barrage, if given a go-ahead by Maharashtra, immediately even as talks could continue on deciding the height of the barrage at mutually agreeable level. However, my request to Maharashtra is to keep in mind that higher the storage capacity of the barrage larger the benefits to farmers of both the States, without causing much submergence”, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao said.

KCR extends invite to Fadnavis

He invited Mr. Fadnavis, Water Resources Minister of Maharashtra G.D. Mahajan to Hyderabad for the next meeting of the inter-State board to discuss and decide upon the levels of Medigadda and Tummidihatti barrages.

The Maharashtra Chief Minister recollected that efforts were on between Maharashtra and the then combined Andhra Pradesh States for an agreement on Godavari waters since October 1975.

“When neighbouring countries could have good relations, why can’t two States have such ties,” the Maharashtra Chief Minister asked stating that the agreement would benefit the people of both Maharashtra and Telangana.

It’s a historic agreement by all means when several States are at loggerheads on issues related to river waters.

K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Chief Minister of Telangana.

When neighbouring countries can have good relations, why can’t two States have such ties?

Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by B. Chandrasekhar / March 09th, 2016