Officials from Telangana skipped the first-ever joint meeting of the Coordination Committees of the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) and Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on Tuesday. The coordination committee was constituted to resolve the ongoing water disputes between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. While Telangana officials chose to skip the meeting, their counterparts from Andhra were in attendance.
According to reports, the meeting was headed by GRMB member-secretary BP Pandey, along with members of both GRMB and KRMB. Andhra Pradesh (AP) TRANSCO and GENCO managing directors and other officials of the Irrigation Department also attended the meeting.
As per reports, the AP officials have sought guidelines and procedures for the projects from the Union government on the implementation of the recent gazette notification from the Union Jal Shakti Ministry.
Telangana officials did not attend the meeting, and instead have urged that full board meetings should be convened to discuss the provisions of the July 16 gazette notification, which brings 107 irrigation projects in Telangana and Andhra on both the Godavari and Krishna rivers under the jurisdiction of the KRMB and GRMB. It is set to come into force on October 14, 2021.
The meeting, which took place in the absence of Telangana officials at Jala Soudha, the Irrigation Department headquarters, in Hyderabad, has not seen much progress. However, Andhra officials are said to have stated that the implementation of certain provisions should be postponed until clarification from the Union government is received.
The Telangana government is vehemently opposing the Centres' gazette notification, alleging that it is against the interests of the state. Recently, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) said that the Union government has taken an anti-Telangana stand while Andhra is resorting to "dadagiri" by constructing illegal projects on the river Krishna.