The Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) has left the decision on dispute over the 460MW Lower Sileru hyrdo-electric power station between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to the Centre as the two States have failed to arrive at any understanding.
The decision to leave the issue to the Centre was taken at the GRMB meeting held here on Tuesday. The meeting, chaired by GRMB chairman M.S. Agrawal, was attended by Principal Secretaries of Irrigation S.K. Joshi (TS) and Aditya Nath Das (AP), Engineers-in-Chief M. Venkateswara Rao (AP) and C. Muralidhar (TS) and member-secretary J. Chandrashekhar Iyer.
The Lower Sileru issue has already been taken to the notice of the Central Water Commission (CWC) and Central Electricity Authority (CEA) by the Telangana government, which has been opposing the transfer of the power project along with seven mandals of Khammam district to AP after its formation on June 2.
The issue figured prominently at the GRMB meeting as the officials from Telangana wanted to know the amount of power generated and quantity of water utilised there by Andhra Pradesh. However, the AP officials refused to divulge the details and reiterated that the GRMB had no purview to discuss issues related to power. Telangana has been contending from the beginning that AP has not been sharing details of power generated at Lower Sileru to Southern Region Load Dispatch Centre (SRLDC).
When contacted after the meeting, official sources stated that issues related to accommodation, infrastructure, human resource and funding for the board were also discussed and the two sides have agreed to deposit Rs. 5 crore each for its functioning. On draft regulations and working manual for the board, the official said that they would be prepared by involving the two States and would be sent to the Centre for notification soon. The two States have also agreed to share information on projects located in the Godavari basin by January 10, 2015.
