HYDERABAD: The Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) on Tuesday sought the Centre’s intervention to resolve ownership dispute over the Sileru hydro electric project located in mandals that were recently transferred from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh.
The GRMB headed by MS Agarwal held a meeting with principal secretaries of Telangana and AP irrigation departments at Jalasoudha here on Tuesday. Though the meet was to take stock of proposed new projects on river Godavari, the two state government representatives ended up arguing over Sileru project most of the time.
Telangana government officials said that the project site was in Khammam when AP was divided into two states, but after the recent amendment to the AP Reorganization Act 2014, it was transferred to Andhra Pradesh. They also argued that it should not be construed as change of project ownership.
But the AP government objected to this saying that as per the Act all projects were allotted to two states on the basis of physical location and Sileru should not be an exception. Both the states demanded a clear order on the ownership of the project or at least on sharing of power.
Unable to convince both the states, the GRMB has decided to seek Central Electricity Authority’s views on power sharing between the two states.
“The issue will be raised with the Union home and law ministries. The decision was taken in the wake of lack of clarity between the two states. Even if the GRMB pronounces an order, there is no guarantee that the same is honored by two states,” said a senior official, who participated in the meeting.
AP officials pointed out that the Telangana government has proposed several new projects on river Godavari and expressed apprehension that the new projects would curtail inflows into existing projects downstream.
Telangana argued that it need not take permission from the AP government for already proposed projects. After the intervention of the GRMB chairman, both states have agreed to share information about new projects.
Similarly, both states also agreed to send draft regulations to make the GRMB functional by January 10, 2015. Lack of clear guidelines has been impacting the function of the board, which wants to start its operation from Hyderabad very soon.
“Both states agreed to provide necessary accommodation, infrastructure, finance, manpower to strengthen the board. Both states also agreed to provide their inputs for preparing draft regulations by January 10, 2015,” said a senior official of GRMB.
He added that the states also agreed to share information about all the projects located in Godavari basin by the same date.
A war of words also broke out over Polavaram. While Telangana officials demanded inclusion of its representatives in the Polavaram Authority, AP rejected the proposal saying there was no scope for Telangana in the project. The GRMB asked AP to provide the list of submerging areas under Polavaram project before they could take a decision on Telangana’s objection.
TOI | Dec 31, 2014
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