Telangana may move court over river boards

Hyderabad: Peeved over the silence of the Centre on the request of the State Government to put on hold the Union Government's Gazette notification on the jurisdiction of KRMB and GRMB (Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards), the Telangana Government is mulling to go to court and also utilise the issue as a tool for campaign in the Huzurabad bypoll against the BJP.

At a hurriedly convened select informal briefing, the Irrigation officials said that they were holding consultations with legal luminaries, and experts over the issue as only 10 days were left for the notification to come into force.

The Chief Minister is likely to make a statement on the gazette notification on Monday in the Assembly and may move a resolution asking the Centre to put it on hold till allocation of water between the two States was decided. This could put the BJP in a tight corner.

It remains to be seen if they will support the resolution or not. If they don't, then the TRS can go hammer and tongs against the BJP in the campaign that they are not for protecting the State's interest and if they have the courage, they should make the Centre put it on hold.

They will also get an opportunity to tell the people that the CM himself met the Union Jal Shakti Minister twice and appealed to him but still the Centre was not taking any action and the state BJP has failed to convince the Centre.

Officials, who held a meeting on Sunday, said, "the undisputed powers given to the boards was not only detrimental to the Telangana interests but also against the spirit of Federalism."

The two boards they said were given powers to clip the wings of the States without any logic or valid reasons.