Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao today said that the Telangana Statehood movement was interlinked with water-related issues and farmers, and all efforts will be made to ensure that the State gets its rightful share.

Telangana stood first in getting the high yields and has become a granary for the country. By strengthening the irrigation sector and tapping the river waters, efforts are on to turn arid fields in Telangana into fertile lands, he said.

During a high power meeting today ahead of the Apex Council meeting slated for October 6 on river water sharing, the Chief Minister said to protect the interests of agriculture sector and farmers’ in Telangana: “I would not mind even to fight with the God.”

Against this background, the rightful share of every drop of water from the Godavari and Krishna rivers would be utilised optimally. The CM instructed the officials to put forth their arguments by backing it with the required data before the Apex Council meeting.

The CM finalised the State’s strategy to be adopted at the Apex Council meeting at a high-level review meeting with officials from the Water Resources Department.

“Andhra Pradesh is intentionally creating disputes on the river water sharing. We have to give a befitting reply to the AP’s arguments at the Apex Council meeting. Take this opportunity to expose the seven years delay caused by the Centre and its inactive role on the matter. Oppose and reject the attempts made to undermine the rights of Telangana people,” he said.

He also wanted the State officials to make use of the Apex Council meeting to tell the whole country about the facts on water sharing.

“Under the States Bifurcation Acts, whenever a new State is formed, it should be allocated its water share. The Telangana State was formed on June 2, 2014 and we wrote a letter to the Prime Minister on June 14, 2014. In the letter, we have requested for the allocation water to Telangana,” he said.

“We also stated that water could be allocated by constituting a special tribunal under section (3) of the Inter State River Water Disputes Act 1956 or through the existing Tribunal. We also wanted the allocation water should be done between the Telangana and AP or among the river basin states. Even after seven years, there was no response to the letter written to the PM. The Centre kept mum on the issue,” he said.

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