Telangana Government to skip GRMB, KRMB meetings on August 9

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has decided to skip the August 9 meeting convened by both KRMB (Krishna River Management Board) and GRMB (Godavari River Management Board) to discuss the implementation of the gazette notification which accorded full powers to the two boards on water and project managements in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The government on Friday shot off a letter to KRMB demanding to postponement of the meeting in view of the busy schedule of the irrigation officials to attend the court hearing on the same day. State Engineer-in-Chief C Muralidhar already wrote to the GRMB to put off the meeting. Officials said that the government already demanded the boards to hold the meetings only after the hearing on water-related disputes pending at different levels in courts. Muralidhar also requested the KRMB to consult State Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) Rajat Kumar to finalise the meeting schedule.

The government has raised strong objections on delegating full powers to the boards in the management of water release and also the project maintenance without considering the State demands. It has been demanding the Union government to finalise water sharing between the two States before taking over the water management by the boards.