The Telangana government has protested the preparation of a note by the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) on taking over Godavari (Devadula) Lift Irrigation Scheme (GLIS) in-take pump-house at Gangaram and Geesugonda cross regulator on Kakitya Canal stating that the board has visited the sites without involving the sub-committee members.
The issue was raised at a meeting held here on Wednesday, where members of Telangana in the sub-panel — Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minster on Irrigation Sridhar Rao Deshpande, Superintending Engineer (Inter-State) Koteshwar Rao and Executive Engineer Subramanya Prasad — stated that the State government has not received orders from Ministry of Jal Shakti on projects of Telangana other than Peddavagu medium irrigation project.
They categorically reiterated that they have communication from MoJS for sharing information only about Peddavagu under Clauses 1(i), 1(j) and 1(k) of the gazette notification on sanctioned posts, plants and machinery, equipment, office premises, furniture, vehicles, detailed project reports and records maintained since in inception.
Telangana members in the sub-committee meeting chaired by Member-Secretary of GRMB B.P. Pandey made it clear that they would take action as per the directions of MoJS in the matter and would not give any commitment on the handing over note. Further, they also reiterated to the board that there is no necessity of deployment of CISF personnel as there are no common projects which cater to the needs of both the States and the deployment would be a burden on the State exchequer.
They also stated that as per Clause 4 of GWDT award, riparian States are at liberty to transfer any part of their share to any other basin. Both GLIS and Sriramsagar Project (SRSP) were sanctioned and grounded during combined Andhra Pradesh. They pointed out that the State government at that time had no objection for the transfer of Godavari Basin water to Krishna Basin to meet irrigation needs.
However, after bifurcation AP is objecting to the transfer and it is not acceptable to Telangana and is also against the GWDT award. Telangana has requested the board to give sufficient time to study the handing over note so that they could discuss with higher authorities of Irrigation and project engineers to assess the correctness of the report. It is understood that the Member-Secretary had agreed to differ the discussion to the next meeting.
