Andhra Pradesh to hand over projects to KRMB with a rider

Amaravati: In a strategic move, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has issued a conditional GO on handing over of projects on River Krishna to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) as per the gazette notification of the Centre which came into force from this Friday.

As the gazette notification issued by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti notified the jurisdiction of Godavari River Management Board and Krishna River Management Board, which provide the required authority and power to the two Boards in terms of administration, regulation, operation and maintenance of listed projects in Godavari and Krishna rivers in the two States would come into effect from October 14, the AP government issued the conditional GO. According to the GO, handing over the projects would be reciprocal i.e., only if the Telangana State too followed suit. It also laid another condition that the Jurala project should also be taken over. It maintained that if this project was not taken over, then the State of AP would face problems.

The GO said it would hand over officials, buildings, machinery, personnel, DPRS and vehicles. It also stated that all dams under the purview of head works, regulatory structures would also be handed over.

As far as Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar projects were concerned, it stated that if Telangana handed over the same to the Board, it too would oblige. In addition, it stated the SpillWay of Srisailam Project, Pothireddypadu Head Regulator, Handri-Niva Lift Irrigation scheme and Muchumarri Project would also be handed over to the Board.

On the other hand, the Telangana Government has constituted an official committee headed by state Engineer-in-chief Muralidhar Rao. The committee would study the pros and cons and would submit a report within two weeks.