Telangana irrigation projects to be in focus at today’s SZC meeting

Karnataka’s objections to Palamuru-Rangareddy likely to figure

As expected, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is not attending the meeting of the Southern Zonal Council convened by the Union government in Tirupati on Sunday.

The State government will be represented by Minister for Home Mohd. Mahmood Ali and a delegation of officials led by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar in the meeting that will be presided by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The 29th meeting of the Southern Regional Council is being organised after a long gap as the meeting scheduled on March 4 had been deferred in view of the COVID-19 pandemic as also because of the unavailability of Mr. Amit Shah.

According to the tentative agenda finalised for the meeting, issues relating to irrigation projects Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation System (PRLIS) and Nakkalagandi LIS, taken up by the State of Telangana from the foreshore of Srisailam reservoir, are expected to be among the major issues that will come up for discussion.

The Karnataka government lodged a complaint against Telangana over its PRLIS and Nakkalagandi LIS being taken up for lifting water from the foreshores of Srisailam project.

The Karnataka government is asserting that neither Andhra Pradesh nor Telangana (even assuming that the State of Telangana is entitled to use the remaining/surplus water) had any right to construct “permanent construction of large-scale projects” for using the remaining/ surplus water flowing in the Krishna.

This was because the said remaining/surplus water is liable to be considered for allocation to the upper States — Karnataka and Maharashtra — under Clause-XVI of the Final Order of KWDT-II (dated November 29, 2013).

Agenda note

“The KRMB concluded reiterating the directions of Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) to the State of Telangana not to go ahead with the new projects till the DPRs are submitted and appraised by the KRMB, CWC and sanctioned by Apex Council,” the agenda note said.

This apart, the meeting is likely to discuss about the dues amounting to ₹6,015 crore to be paid by power utilities of Telangana to Andhra Pradesh towards the cost of power supplied by Andhra Pradesh after the State bifurcation. Among other issues in the agenda is the discussion about the speedy investigation of cases of sexual offence/rape against women and children — extent of adherence to time limits of two months for investigation and enquiry/trial as per ITSSO Portal.

The 28th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council held at Bengaluru on September 18, 2018, in which out of 27 Agenda items, 22 were resolved. In addition to the 5 remaining agenda items, 43 new items were received for consideration by the SZC.