HYDERABAD: A draft notification indicating the jurisdiction of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has been prepared by the Board and sent for publication by the Union Water Resources Ministry on Friday.However, the Telangana state government has serious reservations over the draft notification. “We have already announced our stand in the past that the projects should be brought under the jurisdiction of the Board only after the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal makes final allocation of water,” sources in irrigation department told Express on Friday.
“We have already written several letters to the Central government not to bring the projects under the jurisdiction of the KRMB. We will discuss the draft notification soon and write again to the Centre not to publish it. We have reservations over the notification. First, the KRMB or the Centre should respond to our demands like allocating 45 tmc extra water in Krishna, as AP diverted Godavari water to Krishna through Pattiseema. We have several other issues with regard to Krishna water sharing,” officials said.
While announcing the jurisdiction, the Board studied the model implemented in Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) in Chandigarh. The jurisdiction of KRMB has been finalised in accordance with section 85 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2015. However, the notification is envisaged to be revised in future to include the remaining functions of the Board such as construction and regular maintenance of the projects, advisory role during management of natural calamities and regulation of supply of power generated.
The draft notification of KRMB jurisdiction includes the following functions of the KRMB:
Regulation of supply of water from two common projects (Nagarjuna Sagar and Srisailam) and their associated components serving AP and Telangana Monitoring flows at important control points to ensure proper implementation of water release orders of KRMB Emergent maintenance required during water release period Controlling and monitoring of water releases from power houses at common projects