KRMB new chief gets ready to solve Andhra Pradesh-Telangana row

Hyderabad: With the new KRMB (Krishna River Management Board) Chairman MP Singh assumed charge as the Board head at Jala Soudha (Telangana Irrigation department head office) here on Wednesday, the Board hastened the exercise to address the issues raised by two Telugu States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on utilisation of Krishna river water. While the Telangana Government is getting ready to pitch for justice by submitting required documents with evidence on water utilisation by Telangana and excess water released to Andhra from Krishna since the formation of the T state, the Board was finalising a schedule to hold a series of meetings with AP and Telangana governments to resolve the issue. The board already issued instructions to the two States to submit the DPR (detailed project reports) of the new projects taken up by the two states on Krishna.

The Telangana government strongly objected to the enhancement of Pothireddypadu head regulator capacity and the construction of the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS).

The AP also questioned Telangana for the construction of Palamuru Rangareddy project with specific water allocations.

Officials said that the Board is planning to visit the RLIS project and also Srisailam power house to ascertain the ground level situation and verify the objections raised by the two States against each other. As the Telangana government already informed the board that the officials would not attend the meeting convened on July 9 on water disputes, the newly appointed board chairman would take a call on finalising the agenda for the next meeting to be held in July last week. The board was studying all the letters submitted by Telangana to NGT, Union Ministry of Jal Shakti and Central Water Commission against the AP government on RLIS and Pothireddypadu head regulator.

Meanwhile, the KRMB Chairman asked the two States to release adequate funds to function the board actively. As per the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh should contribute funds to run the board. Official sources said that the AP government did not release its share of funds and the board was facing big difficulty to function regularly. "KRMB is in dearth of funds to take up the essential works telemetry phase-2 and conduct surveys. The board already instructed the irrigation chiefs of the two States to release the pending Rs 9 crore immediately," officials said that the new Chairman would sort out the fund crisis shortly in consultation with the two States.