VIJAYAWADA: After the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB), the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) has proposed to schedule the full board meeting on Monday to discuss various issues related to the implementation of the gazette notification and water sharing between both the Telugu States.
It remains to be seen if the meetings would be held as proposed as Telangana authorities, who have already given the recent coordination committee a miss, informed GRMB on Thursday that it “is not possible” for them to attend the 10th (emergency) board meeting.
According to information, the KRMB has written to both the States proposing to hold the meeting on the same day as proposed by the GRMB. However, Telangana engineer-in-chief (general) C Muralidhar wrote to the chairman of the Godavari board that cases in the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal were listed for hearing on the same date and hence it would not be possible for them to attend the board meeting. “Further, the next date may be fixed in coordination with the special chief secretary at the earliest possible,” Muralidhar added.
It may be recalled that Telangana had earlier refrained from attending the three-member committee meeting proposed by the KRMB last month and instead sought a full board meeting to discuss the water sharing. Seeking a full Godavari board meeting, Telangana had not participated in the first coordination committee meeting held on August 3 by both the boards for discussing the action plan for the implementation of the gazette notification.
The Telangana ENC has also written to the chairman of the KRMB on Thursday registering a protest against AP’s objection to the presence of a Central Water Commission (CWC) officer, Devendra Rao, in the inspection team to visit Rayalaseema lift scheme (RLS). Muralidhar termed the objection “unfortunate and unethical” and noted that the report will not be based on a single person’s views as it is not a single-man committee.
“Hence, the credibility of the team can’t be questioned. Further, it is to inform that when such a committee went to inspect Palamuru-Rangareddy lift irrigation scheme, and when Kalwakurthy pump house was formed, Telangana did not object to MK Srinivas, CE of Krishna Godavari Basin Organisation, CWC, being a member of the committee. Attributing intentions to a CWC officer by AP is unfortunate and unethical. The objection on above grounds is strongly protested which in fact seems to be a delaying tactic to postpone the NGT proceedings,” he said in his letter.
It may be recalled that the AP government filed a memo in the NGT objecting to the presence of an official hailing from Telangana in the inspection team. It argued that presence of the official was not in consonant with the notification issued by the Centre, an argument which the NGT considered and asked the KRMB of its views. The board said it was ready to conduct inspection without members from the Telugu-speaking states.
While the Telangana ENC requested the KRMB to conduct the inspection as planned as the NGT is set to hear the matter on August 9, a board official told TNIE a call on when to visit the RLS project site in Kurnool is yet to be taken.