HYDERABAD: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have accused each other of taking up new projects without prior clearances or permissions. The trading of charges was made at a meeting convened by the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) here on Friday.
According to sources, AP officials questioned the construction of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project without obtaining permissions and without informing GRMB. However, TS officials pointed out that Kaleshwaram was not a new project but an old one which was sanctioned when there was one state before bifurcation. TS officials, on the other hand, accused AP of taking up the construction of Pattiseema project without permission and without informing the board.
The fifth meeting of GRMB was chaired by new chairman HK Sahu. As Sahu was the new incumbent, AP and TS raised Kaleshwaram and Pattiseema projects respectively. Then Sahu asked the two governments to upload the data of completed, ongoing and new projects in Godavari basin on GRMB’s website.
He said the board wanted AP to submit the Detailed Project Report (DPR) on Pattiseema at the board’s next meeting. “The DPR will run into several huge volumes. AP provided some volumes and assured to submit the other volumes shortly,” he said, adding that the TS government informed him that Kaleshwaram was not a new project.
Meanwhile, the board sanctioned 25 posts for better functioning and the required staff could be drawn from CWC, AP and TS.“We sought the comments of both states on the draft working manual of the board within 10 days. If there are no objections from them, we will notify the working manual,” Sahu said. Asked about bringing irrigation projects under board’s purview, Sahu said there was no such provision in the Acts.