Krishna, Godavari boards speed up project takeover

The Krishna and Godavari river management boards have stepped up its efforts to gain control of irrigation projects on the two rivers.

They have called for an emergency joint meeting of KRMB and GRMB on August 9.

The respective river boards sent a letter on Thursday asking TS and AP governments to send their officials for the meeting.

The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of the TS government boycotting the KRMB meeting on Tuesday.

With just about two months left for the gazette notification to come into force and both the states requiring to deposit `200 crore each to KRMB and GRMB respectively to meet operational costs, the boards want to speed up its efforts to stick to the schedules and deadlines.

The joint meeting is aimed at discussing and devising an action plan to implement the recent gazette notification issued by the Centre bringing all irrigation projects on Krishna and Godavari rivers under the jurisdiction of the respective river boards.

While the AP government welcomed the gazette notification in general and sought clarifications on some provisions, the TS government is fully opposed to it. It urged the Centre to discuss matters with both the states and resolve all issues before implementing the new order.

The gazette notification comes into force from October 14. From then on, all important projects in both the states would go under the control of respective boards. Both the states have to stop construction works of all unapproved projects that were taken up without obtaining requisite approvals. They have to submit DPRs of these projects and seek approvals within six months to start the works.