HYDERABAD: Officials of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) are still waiting for the operational guidelines of the gazette notification issued by the Central government on the maintenance of projects in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.“We need clarifications on several provisions of the gazette notification. Once the Parliament session is over, the chairmen of the Boards may go to New Delhi to discuss the same with the Jal Shakti Ministry officials. We will get some clarity on how to implement the gazette notification after the issuance of the operational guidelines,” an official of the KRMB told Express on Tuesday.
It has been five days since the gazette notification was issued, but Telangana Irrigation Department officials are clueless about the functioning of the Boards. “There is no clarity on the number of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel to be deployed at each project. Depending on the number of CISF and other personnel, the State government may have to giver around `1,000 crore to `1,500 crore every year to the Boards for the maintenance of the projects and other works, besides the one-time seed money of Rs 400 crore. This will be a burden on the State’s exchequer,” an official of the Irrigation Department opined.
50% water share
Meanwhile, the State government is sticking to its decision of demanding 50 per cent share of the 811 tmcft available in the Krishna river for Telangana. According to sources, Telangana officials had written a letter to the Secretary of Ministry of Jal Shakti on April 24, 2021, demanding 50 per cent share in the Krishna waters. Another letter was written to the KRMB chairman on July 5 with the same demand. “At the Board meeting, we will demand for the revision of water sharing ratio of the Krishna river for the current year from the earlier ad hoc sharing arrangement of 512 tmcft and 299 tmcft between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana respectively,” sources said.
NAGAM FLAYS KCR’S ‘INCOMPETENCE’
Hyderabad: Former Congress minister Nagam Janardhan Reddy alleged that it was only because of the “sheer incompetence” of the KCR government that Telangana was losing Krishna waters to AP and projects at Mahbubnagar were drying up. Speaking to mediapersons at Gandhi Bhavan, Nagam said that it was because of the lack of foresight of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao that those at Krishna basin were being deprived of their rights