The Telangana government has expressed its dissatisfaction over the Krishna River Management Board's (KRMB) attempts to push through the working manual of the agency in a hurry in spite of serious opposition over the draft provisions.
In response to a letter written by KRMB Secretary A. Paramesham last week calling for a meeting of the board with the main agenda of approving working manual for the board's functioning, the Irrigation Department officials have expressed their inability to attend the meeting on January 30. The management of joint projects in respect of water releases to both the member States – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana – is the central focus of the manual.
It is understood that the Telangana officials have written back to the board that they were preoccupied on the date, suggesting the meeting could be held during the first or second week of February.
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A senior engineer of Nagarjuna Sagar, a joint project, said, “We have expressed our dissent on the draft provisions of the working manual several times in the past. The State government is of the firm belief that unless there is project wise allocation of water, the manual has no meaning.”.
Another senior official said that the board was not inclined to address contentious issues like finding out the reasons for disparity in water reaching Nagarjunasagar reservoir compared with Srisailam Dam.
Completing installation and validation of telemetry equipment at all locations where water is withdrawn from the joint projects has also been neglected by the board, the official said.
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“We do not know why they are pushing for the working manual at a time when KRMB’s Chairman S.K. Srivatsava is superannuating,” the official stated.
KRMB officials could not be contacted over phone.
Official sources stated that KRMB had written another letter to discuss conducting a survey by the National Remote Sensing Agency on the water storage capacity of minor irrigation tanks in the Krishna basin in Telangana. This letter did not mention a similar survey on the capacity of water bodies in A.P.