Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has asked the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to submit the detailed projects reports (DPRs) pertaining to all new projects taken up by the respective governments. The submission of DPRs was agreed to by Andhra and Telangana at the second Apex Council meeting held on October 6 2020, under the Union Ministry supervision.

Shekhawat has written two separate letters to both the Chief Minister's (CM) reminding them to take necessary actions to submit to the DPRs of all new projects to the Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards (KRMB and GRMB) constituted under the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act.

The Union Minister said that while Andhra Pradesh had submitted only one DPR out of 19 projects initiated by the state government following the bifurcation while Telangana had not submitted DPRs of any of the 15 projects taken up in both Krishna and Godavari basins, according to The Hindu.

The Union Minister has also reportedly informed the two state governments that they have to secure other statutory approvals and clearances for going ahead with the new projects.

Both the sister states are at loggerheads over the Krishna and Godavari water sharing issue and over the construction of irrigation projects on the basins of two perennial rivers.

Earlier, the states had locked horns over water sharing as the Andhra government led by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had planned to expand the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator and construct the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS) on the Krishna river. The proposed projects worth Rs 7,000 crore were allegedly aimed at drawing an additional quantity of six to eight TMCs (thousand million cubic feet) of water per day from the Srisailam reservoir on the Krishna river. This was opposed by the Telangana government, stating that it would damage the interest of Telangana.

Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) argued that his government would build a barrage if the Andhra government would not stop building projects on the Krishna river.  However, YS Jagan's government kept arguing that it is only planning to fetch waters in their rightful share.