PNS|Vijayawada
Andhra Pradesh Water Users Associations’ Federation (APWUAF) president Alla Venkata Gopala Krishna Rao has demanded that the State government establish headquarters of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) at Vijayawada instead of Visakhapatnam for effective supervision of water regulation of Srisaialam and Nagarjuna Sagar Projects. He urged Ministry of Jal Shakti Secretary Pankaj Kumar to take steps in this regard in an email representation sent to him.
APWUAF president Alla Venkata Gopala Krishna Rao addressed the press reporters along with Nagarjuna Sagar Left Canal Project Committee former chairman Y Pullaiah Chowdary, and Krishna Eastern Delta Project Committee former chairman Gutta Sivarama Krishna, at the Press Club at Gandhinagar in Vijayawada on Monday.
He said that as per Section 85(2) of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014, the headquarters of KRMB should be located in the successor state of Andhra Pradesh as both states agreed upon the same. The issue was discussed in various meetings of the KRMB and Ministry of Jal Shakti, Apex Councils and the Parliament, he said. However, even after seven years of the formation of KRMB, no fruitful action has taken place so far.
Further, he said a copy was sent to KRMB Chairman MP Singh and requested him to finalise the establishment of KRMB headquarters at Vijayawada in the ensuing 17th board meeting to be held in Hyderabad. At the second Apex Council meeting, all the delegates expressed their opinion that for effective supervision and control of common reservoirs, i.e., Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar jurisdiction is essential. Also, the Government of India Gazette notification was published on the Jurisdiction of KRMB, he added.
Meanwhile, he said to have better monitoring of the water regulation of two common reservoirs, the establishment of the headquarters of KRMB may play a major role by effectively serving the needs of ayacut farmers under the system. Whereas the state government earlier put forth the stand with a request to shift the headquarters of KRMB to Vijayawada and the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh wrote a letter to the Ministry of Jal Shakti Secretary on June 26, 2020, he said. He said that if the state government is interested to establish the board at Visakhapatnam, which is 400 km far away from the Krishna Delta, 700 km from NSP and 800 km from the Srisailam project. “Unfortunately, the earlier decision of GOAP to shift the Headquarters of KRMB to Vijayawada was recently superseded by the subsequent stand taken by GOAP that it shall be stationed at Visakhapatnam city in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
Moreover, he said that both AP and Telangana states have agreed to the utilisation of 811 TMC protected by KWDT-I, in the ratio of 299 TMC for Telangana and 512 TMC for Andhra Pradesh including Medium and Minor Irrigation. Srisailam Reservoir and Nagarjuna Sagar project are the two major common reservoirs, which rest on the main arm of the river, namely Jurala, Pulichintala and Prakasam barrage respectively, he added.
Gopala Krishna Rao demanded that the State government withdraw its proposal to shift KRMB headquarters to Visakhapatnam and establish it in Vijayawada. He recalled the letter written by the Special Chief Secretary of the Water Resources Department Adityanath Das. Later, he sent another letter to the Central Government, he added.
APWUAF leaders G Srinivasa Rao, and B Ashok Kumar were present.
