In a yet another twist to the ongoing issue of notification of the purview of the two river boards for supervising all major and medium irrigation and hydro-electric projects in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana has expressed reservations over the coordination committee meeting of Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) scheduled on Tuesday.
In a letter addressed to Chairman of GRMB J. Chandrashekhar Iyer, Engineer-in-Chief (General), Irrigation Department, of Telangana C. Muralidhar said on Monday that the matter related to notification of the purview of GRMB covering projects in the Godavari Basin has serious consequences on Telangana and AP and required to be discussed in detail and decided in a full-board meeting.
“Without having an opinion and guidance of the full board meeting, it is not possible to discuss any issue and decide directly in the coordination committee on operationalisation of various clauses of the gazette,” Mr. Muralidhar wrote and requested the GRMB Chairman that the coordination committee meeting may be convened after having a detailed full board meeting.
Meanwhile, Member Secretary of GRMB B.P. Pandey, in an almost instant reply to Telangana, underscored the need to of coordination committee meeting stating that it is to facilitate the river board office and the concerned departments of the two Member States in the time-bound implementation and operationalisation of various clauses of the gazette notification.
Citing a letter addressed by Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) to the river board on July 28, Mr. Pandey said coordination panel meeting was necessary considering strict timelines given in the notification. Further, the Ministry had also asked GRMB to send a detailed plan of action giving dates and other relevant information on the operationalisation of the gazette notification.
The full board meeting of GRMB shall be convened immediately after the coordination committee meeting after the activities of the board were given shape, Mr. Pandey suggested and requested Telangana ENC to attend the meeting positively on August 3.
On the other hand, even the opposition parties in the two States, except BJP, have opposed the notification on the purview of the two river boards stating that it was unnecessary to bring all projects into the board’s purviews except those linked to the two States in the matter of water storage, release and hydel generation.
