Hyderabad: The High Level Committee of Irrigation Engineers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which met here to discuss the diversion of the waters of the Godavari river to the Krishna river basin, has in principle agreed that the diverted waters should be shared equally by the two states.
The committee comprising engineers-in-chief of both states, Muralidhar Rao and Venkateswara Rao, Interstate water resources wing chief engineer Narasimha Rao, Officer on Special Duty of Telangana Irrigation wing, Sridhar Deshpande, and retired engineers, held discussions on the water sharing on Tuesday.
After the meeting Mr Muralidhar Rao, Engineer-in-chief of Telangana state, said that 1,000 TMC of water is available from the Godavari, and Telangana state requires 700 to 800 TMC of water for irrigation, industrial and drinking water purposes.
Both states require 1,300 TMC for their respective needs, he said. The committees have decided to meet again to discuss the route and alignment to divert the water.
Mr Venkateswara Rao, Engineer-in-chief of Andhra Pradesh, said that the possibility of using 4 TMC of water every day by both states was discussed in the meeting.
He said that they will meet again to discuss the ways and means to take forward the projects required for the diversion of water. He also said they have been looking for a point to connect rivers Pranahita and Indravati with the Godavari. Around 1000 TMC of water will be available in the Godavari after the two tributaries flow into the Godavari at Dhummugudem.
The joint meeting was held after the Chief Ministers of the two states had agreed that the waters of the Godavari would be diverted to the Krishna basin during the flood season.
