The 29th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be held at Tirupati tentatively on November 14.
Union Home Ministry secretary Anuradha Prasad, in a letter addressed to the Andhra Pradesh Government, asked the officials concerned to make logistics arrangements for the meeting to be attended by Chief Ministers of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in addition to Lieutenant Governors of Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands. The zonal council meetings are held for better coordination between the States and to resolve pending inter-State issues.
The last meeting of the council was scheduled to be held in Tirupati on March 4, but was cancelled as Mr. Amit Shah could not attend it. Several issues between the two Telugu States, including the pending promises of the State reorganization, are expected to come up for discussion during the meeting.
The meeting assumes significance, especially in the light of escalation of dispute over sharing of river waters between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The complaint of Karnataka government about the plans of Telangana to construct two projects – Palamuru Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme and Nakkalagandi LIS to draw large quantity of remaining/surplus from the foreshore of Srisailam reservoir — was present in the agenda of the previous meeting.
The Karnataka government had alleged that the liberty to use remaining water mentioned in the proviso to para (b) of sub-clause (3) of clause-X of the final order of Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II was not devolved upon the new State of Telangana. Accordingly, the State could not take up any permanent construction to utilize surplus water. The Karnataka Government’s complaint on construction of Sangambanda barrage on Krishna river as it could lead to submergence of villages under its jurisdiction also figured in the agenda of the previous meeting.
In addition to the river water issues, grant of forest/wildlife clearances for laying new third BG railway line between Mukudi and Rechni road railway station of Telangana was in the agenda of the previous meeting. The State Government had intimated to the council that it had granted clearance for the entire 23.72 hectare of land for the third BG line of the project.
The meeting is also likely to discuss the assurance given to the State on setting up steel factory at Bayyaram. According to the agenda of the previous meeting, the Telangana Government was exploring options to shift the plant site towards western side of the State. They (TS Government) are yet to take a final call between Bayyaram and some site in the western part and the MECON would complete the draft feasibility report after receiving the information from the Government.