Godavari-Banakacherla row: Revanth Reddy hints at moving SC; Centre may call Apex Council meet soon with him & Chandrababu Naidu

HYDERABAD: With tensions escalating between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh over the proposed Godavari-Banakacherla link project, the Centre is likely to convene an Apex Council meeting soon, bringing both chief ministers to the table to resolve the contentious water sharing dispute.
The Apex Council-last convened in Oct 2020-is headed by Union jal shakti minister CR Patil.
CM A Revanth Reddy and irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who met Patil in Delhi on Thursday, said the Union minister had assured them that the meeting would be held soon. During the hour-long meeting, Revanth made it clear that Telangana would not compromise on its water interests under any circumstances. He conveyed to the minister that while the state was open to resolving disputes through dialogue, it would approach the Supreme Court if the Centre's actions were not in Telangana's favour.
Revanth proposed an alternative plan, stating that if AP truly believed surplus water was available in the Godavari, the Centre could consider linking the Icchampally-Nagarjuna Sagar route to lift water to the Penna basin, instead of Polavaram-Banakacherla. This, he said, could be centrally funded. The CM also urged the Centre to expedite the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal-II verdict.
The CM urged Patil to intervene and halt all works initiated by the AP govt on the Banakacherla project, and to reject the pre-feasibility report submitted by AP on the link project.
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Revanth and Uttam argued that the Banakacherla project violates the interests of Telangana, as well as the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (1980) and the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. They expressed concern over how the Union finance ministry and environment ministry appeared to be fast-tracking approvals for AP's projects while neglecting Telangana's.
Revanth said AP's claim of basing the Banakacherla project on Godavari floodwaters had no legal or technical standing.
"There is no mention of floodwaters or surplus waters in the GWDT-1980," he said, arguing that the entire project lacks regulatory grounding.
Revanth reminded the Union minister that as per the Reorganisation Act, new inter-state projects must first be cleared by the Godavari River Management Board, Central Water Commission, and the Apex Council. "The AP govt violated mandatory procedures and is going ahead with project. Their claim that project is based on floodwaters is not only misleading but has no statutory support," he said.
Uttam said Patil responded positively and confirmed that his ministry had not received any detailed project report related to Banakacherla from AP so far.

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