On the 24th of June, the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) wrote to the Andhra Pradesh Government, urging it to stop the works on the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation project.
The letter was addressed to the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) Government, and forwarded to the Irrigation Secretary of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.)
In the letter the KRMB asked the AP government to submit the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the ongoing work for approval.
In addition, the KRBM cited the recent orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to stop the ongoing work. Recently, the NGT and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Government objected to the work on the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Project. The major reason to object to the work is the violation in work as per the guidelines/directions given by the NGT. The KRMB shared the pictures of the ongoing work and said, the A.P., Board and authorities overlooked the directions of the NGT and continued the work even after the stay order of the Green Tribunal.
Meanwhile, the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy led A.P., Government has its inhibitions on KRMB. They said, a few members in the KRMB are acting in favour of the Telangana Government and did not consider the requests placed by the Andhra Pradesh Government.
On the other hand, the KRMB claimed that the A.P. Government did not cooperate with the experts panel who wanted to visit the project.
It is to be noted, the letter written by the KRMB came a few days after the Telangana Minister Prashanth Reddy made controversial comments about Rayalaseema and Pothireddypadu projects. The Telangana Minister said, if the work continues, Telangana’s districts would suffer drought like situation and its share of water would be affected and would hamper the drinking water needs of the State and Hyderabad.
As the work of Rayalaseema project picked up pace, the Telangana Government immediately lodged a complaint and the KRMB initiated a letter.
