Telangana opposes KRMB headquarters at Vizag

Hyderabad: The Telangana Government has strongly opposed the proposal of the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh to set up the KRMB (Krishna River Management Board) headquarters in Visakhapatnam. Referring to the reports published in The Hans India and other newspapers on the AP's plea to set up KRMB office at Visakhapatnam, Telangana State Engineer-in-Chief (Irrigation) C Muralidhar shot off a letter to the KRMB Member Secretary.

He pointed out that shifting of board office from Hyderabad to Vijayawada was a policy decision taken in the 12th KRMB meeting held recently. At the 2nd Apex Council meeting chaired by Union Minister for Jal Shakthi Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Centre accepted AP's request to shift the board headquarters to Vijayawada for which Telangana also gave its nod.

There is no mention of Visakhapatnam in any meeting conducted either by the board and the Central authorities.

Muralidhar said that they had agreed for shifting of the headquarters to Andhra because AP had said that it would be set up at Vijayawada. He said Visakhapatnam was not in Krishna basin and it will be difficult for the officials to attend the regular meetings organised by the KRMB if the headquarters was shifted to the coastal city of Andhra.

"The shifting of KRMB to Visakhapatnam results in more expenditure towards travel and accommodation of members and senior engineers along subordinate staff. The supporting engineers do not have air travel facilities and will have to travel by railways ,a day before," he explained in the letter.

The official also said that in March 2019, KRMB circulated a note for shifting its headquarters from Hyderabad to Vijayawada and the board chairman has also visited Vijayawada to finalise the accommodation out of the shortlisted proposed buildings.

Hence, he demanded that Andhra Pradesh should scrap the proposal to take it to Visakhapatnam. It should either be in the Krishna basin or should continue to be in Hyderabad.