After several complaints and reviews, the Central Government finally intervened in the ongoing water war between the two Telugu states, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Recently the Central Government issued a notification and took control of the irrigation projects at Krishna River and Godavari River. The Government of India issued a notification which read, “As per the notification, Sub-section (1) of Section 87 of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, provides that the Board shall ordinarily exercise jurisdiction on Godavari and Krishna rivers regarding any of the projects over head works (barrages, dams, reservoirs, regulating structures), part of canal network and transmission lines necessary to deliver water or power to the States concerned.”
The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) would have control over the operations and maintenance of the common reservoirs in both Krishna and Godavari basins, under the GoI.
This decision not only took over with the decision making power of irrigation projects in Telangana, but also became a hurdle to the dream of Water Resource Development in Telangana of K. Chandrashekar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana.
The KCR led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) expressed disappointment with the Centre’s decision as many irrigation projects, hydel power generation projects and other agriculture and irrigation plans would be affected. A senior government official of the TRS Government, who wished to be anonymous, said, with this, the Telangana Water Resource department would have no role to play even in hydel power generation and would be asked to just follow the instructions of the board, created by the Central Government.
The TRS Government would lose most of the decision making power in the Irrigation Sector from the 14th of October. The issued notification, regarding the power switch in irrigation projects would come into effect from the 14th of October 2021.
Meanwhile, before the end of six months after the published notification, the State Government is asked to take the necessary approvals for the pending irrigation projects. If the approvals are not obtained within the stipulated time of six months, such completed unapproved projects would be halted and taken over by the Central Government. With this, people and officials working on those projects need to directly report to the Central Government, which would be in charge of the projects.
It is to be noted, the Telangana Government has decided to take both legal and political action against the Union Jal Shakti Ministry’s decision of taking over important projects, especially related to Krishna and Godavari rivers.
The Party is also likely to take the matter to the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, which started from the 19th of July.
Stay tuned for further updates.
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