HYDERABAD: The Telangana government on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, issued a GO, constituting a committee with technical and legal experts to study the proposals of the river management boards, requesting handing over of irrigation projects.
The expert committee would give its report within 15 days to study and give their views. Once the committee submits its report, the State government will give its comments on the proposals of the boards, indicating whether it is willing to hand over the projects or not.
The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) sent the resolutions of the board meetings to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Wednesday, expecting that the sibling states would issue GOs for handing over 16 components of irrigation projects on Krishna and Godavari rivers. But the KRMB proposed to take over only 15 components (outlets), whereas the GRMB proposed to take over Peddavagu.
The resolution copies were received by the States just a day ahead of the deadline of October 14 fixed by the Jal Shakti Ministry’s gazette notification for managing 107 irrigation components in both the States on Krishna and Godavari. However, the two boards proposed to take over 16 components.
“We have issued a GO constituting the expert committee to study the proposals of the boards. The committee will be headed by the Irrigation engineer-in-chief (general). The ENC sought 15 days time to submit the report,” Special Chief Secretary Irrigation Rajat Kumar told Express.
The committee report would be placed before Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who will then take a final call on the matter.Telangana is of the view that it was not so easy for boards to manage the irrigation projects, which requires administration, operation, maintenance and regulation (AOMR). The Irrigation Department was set up for this purpose and the boards, without staff and funds, cannot step in overnight into the AOMR.