Telangana CM meets Gadkari;discusses projects concerning state

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today met Union Minister for Water Resources and Road Transport Nitin Gadkari in Delhi and discussed with him,irrigation projects and other issues concerning the state.

He urged Gadkari to refer Telangana's complaint on sharing Krishna river water to a tribunal under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, an official release said here.

The matter was, however, earlier referred to the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal though Telangana had sought it to be referred to a tribunal under the Act, Rao said.

Noting that the Tribunal is confined to distributing water between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, he said Telangana wants re-distribution of water in the entire Krishna basin.

Hence, the matter should be referred to a tribunal under the Act, he said.

Rao urged that the Sitarama project on Godavari river be treated as an old project.

The project has been referred to the Godavari River Management Board (for permissions), he said, citing information with the state government.

Rao also took up several important road projects concerning the state with Gadkari, according to the release.

Rao, who had been camping in the national capital for the last two days, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 25.

In that meeting, Rao had sought, among others, the Centres approval for the new Zonal system (concerning government employment) finalised by the state government and allotment of certain defence lands in Hyderabad for construction of a new Secretariat building complex in Hyderabad.

Rao met Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitely yesterday on the same issues.

Raos visit to Delhi assumed significance amid speculation here about the possibility of advancement of Legislative Assembly elections in Telangana.

Legislative Assembly polls in Telangana are scheduled to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections next year.