Jagan, KCR likely to meet on Sept 24 over Godavari water issue

New Delhi: In a bid to finalise a roadmap to divert the Godavari river water to Krishna basin, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jaganmohan Reddy and Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandradsekhar are likely to meet in Hyderabad on September 24.

The meeting of Chief Ministers of Telugu states is scheduled to be held in Pragati Bhawan in Hyderabad, in which engineers from irrigation department from both the states will also attend.

Both the Chief Ministers have already met more than three times after YSR Congress party came to power in Andhra Pradesh and discussions were held in a cordial atmosphere and the approach seemed to be in a give and take spirit. Apart from river water sharing, several pending division issues under the provisions of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.

In their last meeting, the two CMs are understood to have come to a broad conclusion on diverting Godavari river waters to Krishna basin. Both the Chief Ministers have constituted state-wise committees of engineers to study and submit detailed reports. After the committees have finalized their reports, Chief Ministers are to discuss and finalise the road map. But, due to various reasons, the meeting of the Chief Ministers could not take place. In this background, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recently informed the state Assembly that efforts have been on diverting Godavari river water to Krishna Basin. Rao also informed the Assembly that he had already spoken to his counterpart in Andhra Pradesh on the issue.

Apart from sharing of river water among the Telugu states, both the Chief Ministers are likely to discuss pending division issues after the bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh. Though the Union Home

Ministry had convened a meeting of Chief Secretaries of Telugu states on August 8 to discuss several pending issues including bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in Ashoka Road in New Delhi, the meeting could not take place given the developments in Jammu and Kashmir. Union Home Ministry is yet to convene another meeting resolve the pending division issues among Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.