VIJAYAWADA: A notification on the jurisdiction of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) is likely to become a bone of contention between the Telugu States, who are at loggerheads once again over water sharing, in the upcoming apex council meeting. The issue, which was a part of the first apex council meeting held by Union Water Resources Ministry in 2016, once again has come to the fore as both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are opposing the projects proposed by the other on river Krishna.
Though a draft notification on the board’s jurisdiction has already been submitted to the Centre after studying the models adopted by other river management boards, the same is yet to be cleared by the Union ministry, sources said. The state officials contend that unless the jurisdiction is notified, technical aspects such as getting appraisal for new projects would get delayed and the issue would continue to linger, and the implementation of Krishna water-sharing arrangement would also become a problem.
“The board had sent a draft to the Union ministry, which is pending as the Telangana government opposed it. Things haven’t moved since. In the absence of jurisdiction, the statutory body, as mandated in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, will not be able to discharge its duty effectively. And since there will be no jurisdiction, the states, technically, may not adhere to the decisions, which will lead to more chaos,” a senior official explained.
With the second apex council meeting likely to be convened soon, the issue is once again expected to become the point of agenda. For the record, the issue was discussed in the first apex council meeting, in which the chief ministers of the twin Telugu states participated, but no consensus was arrived at. While AP was recorded to have agreed to notification of the jurisdiction as there was no link between the jurisdiction and KWDT-II pending allocations, Telangana was ‘firm’ that it can be done only after the project-wise allocation, according to the minutes of the meeting, .
It may be recalled that the KRMB, following a complaint by the Telangana government, had written to the state government recently asking it to stall the process of Rayalaseema Pumping Scheme until the proposal gets appraised by the KRMB or the Central Water Commission (CWC). The board also shot off a letter to Telangana Water Resources Department seeking the latter’s views on the objections raised by the Andhra Pradesh government.