Aastha Thakur
Published on: 07 September, 2022 at 16:42 IST
The Supreme Court recently directed the Centre to hold friendly talks with the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh to resolve the Polavaram dam and Godavari river water issues.
The Senior Advocate, Gopal Subramanium, contended that the Andhra Pradesh project over the Godavari river is in contravention of the recommendations given by the Justice Bachawat Panel.
The counsel for Andhra Pradesh submitted that there had not been consensus between the States, and added that ₹30,000 crore has already been spent on the project so far.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S Oka, and Vikram Nath was of the opinion that, “it is a never-ending exercise. If the project has to be made or not made. Costs keep going up. Mr. CS Vaidyanathan has said the project has gone beyond what was envisaged.“
The Court propounded that meetings can be initiated with the Chief Secretaries of the States or maybe at a political level, the Chief Ministers may have to meet.
According to the court, it is best if the central government takes the initiative to resolve the matter by amicably arranging a meeting of all stakeholders. The Jal Shakti Vibhag and the Ministry of Environment have to play an important part here. The meeting should be given priority and only the concerned authorities should be part of it. Chief Ministers of the States can form an issue and raise it for discussion.
The Court mandated that a meeting must be held within one month and reports filed before the Supreme Court. The matter is now listed for hearing on December 7th, 2022.