Hyderabad: AP Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is of the opinion that he should hold an all party meeting or experts’ meeting to discuss the proposals made by the Telangana government on maximum utilisation of Godavari and Krishna waters by both Telugu states.
He was speaking during his discussion with Telangana state CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao on pending inter-state issues at Pragati Bhavan on Friday.
There is no dispute over maximum utilisation of Godavari and Krishna waters by both states and this was agreed in principle by both Chief Ministers. The main issue was taking the projects in order of priority and project location.
In the past, in combined AP, political parties expressed different views over the construction of irrigation projects. After the state’s bifurcation, such issues have become more sensitive.
Sources close to Mr Reddy said, “In the meeting with Mr Rao, he listened to all the proposals before taking a final decision on these issues. Mr Jagan is planning to hold an all party meeting or meeting with experts to know their opinion and suggestions.” The sources added that after two days of discussions on the issue, Mr Reddy would take a final decision.
Sources said Mr Reddy wanted transparency in every decision taken by the government. Irrigation was a very sensitive issue and if anything went wrong, it would create regional feelings within the state, they added.
“No party will oppose utilisation of river water to the maximum but there would be different opinions about which point in rivers the projects are started and which would benefit the state more,” sources said.
