Upset minister targets CM Devendra Fadnavis in letter

Two days after Maharashtra and Telangana signed a water-sharing agreement, minister of state for water resources and Shiv Sena leader Vijay Shivtare wrote a letter to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis expressing his displeasure over it.

Mr Shivtare, in his letter, pointed out that Mr Fadnavis did not formally record on paper the dispute over sharing the Krishna river’s water but had instead only communicated it verbally with the Telangana government.

“I appreciate that you initiated the process of water sharing between Maharashtra and Telangana. However, despite instructions from the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal (KWDT), the farmers in Maharashtra’s drought-prone areas cannot get 81tmc water as the Telangana government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court. You have told the Telangana chief minister about it verbally, but did not officially bring it on record,” Mr Shivtare wrote in the letter.

The state minister was referring to a meeting between Mr Fadnavis and Telangana CM K. Chandrashekhar Rao held on Tuesday in Mumbai over water issues. It was the first meeting of the inter-state board for joint irrigation projects between Maharashtra and Telangana.

Mr Shivtare had also earlier written to the CM asking him to sign the treaty only if the Telangana government withdraws its conditions on giving the 81tmc water to Maharashtra. “I had written to you earlier that before extending a hand of cooperation to the Telangana government, ensure that our farmers would get 81tmc water. Both the governments are only committed to helping each other but the technical problem about Maharashtra not getting its share remains,” Mr Shivtare said.

The Telangana government had sought a fresh allocation of the disputed waters of the Krishna river in August 2015 before the Supreme Court, claiming that the right to access water is a human rights issue. However, the Maharashtra and Karnataka government said that the undivided Andhra Pradesh represented the interests of Telangana and therefore fresh allocation of water cannot be made.

The Sena minister has also made complaints related to administration to the CM for not inviting him for the department meetings. “I feel that my experience can help in that and also to convey the citizens’ views to the people. However, I have failed to understand that why I was not called for the meetings of the department,” he said.