River Boards unhappy with truant Telangana Government

Hyderabad: Unhappy with the attitude of non-cooperation from the Telangana government, the chairmen of Godavari and Krishna River Management Boards directed the TS Government to abide by the rules and guidelines of the gazetted notification issued recently by the Union Jal Shakti Ministry so that they can discharge their duties in letter and spirit.

The Union Government had issued the gazette notification on July 16 delegating full powers to these two Boards regarding management of river waters and maintenance of all projects on these two rivers.

The Boards on Monday held emergency meetings in Hyderabad to seek the views of the two Telugu States -- Andhra Pradesh and Telangana -- to finalise organisational structure of these Boards. But stating that the officials were busy attending court cases, the representatives from Telangana abstained from the board meeting. The Telangana State Government requested them to postpone the meeting. However, officials from Andhra Pradesh participated in the meeting and presented their views before the two Boards. 

GRMB and KRMB chairmen in the meetings asserted that the two Telugu States and the concerned departments were duty bound to extend their unreserved cooperation in implementing various clauses of the notification and as per the prescribed timeline in the best interests of the both the member States.

The Board officials observed that the notification has clearly mentioned to put in place the organisational structure within 30 days from the date of notification for which the two States have to comply with the norms. Telangana was staying away from the meeting and it would be difficult to implement the notification in a time-bound manner. The AP representatives informed the Boards that they would submit the desired information regarding organisational structure shortly. The Andhra officials also informed the Boards that "they would be approaching for some modifications on the clauses of the notification and on the list of projects under the schedule to the union government".

The AP Government informed the Boards that it would deposit the seed money meant for the establishment of the offices and functioning of the KRMB and GRMB. The Centre in the notification has asked the two States to deposit Rs 200 crore each.

Regarding the deployment of CRPF (Central Reserve Paramilitary Forces) at the projects, the Boards' officials said the matter has been taken up with the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti which will seek the Union Home Ministry's help in this regard soon.