Though the Apex Council meeting chaired by Union Water Resources Minister Patil and attended by Chief Ministers of two Telugu states decided last week to immediately shift the headquarters of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) from Jala Soudha in Hyderabad to Andhra Pradesh, the officials found some legal hurdles on its way.
Board sources reveal that the office relocation is being delayed in this context. According to Section 85 (2) of the AP Reorganization Act, the headquarters of the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) is to be set up in Telangana and the office of the KRMB is to be set up in AP. However, after the formation of the state, the GRMB and KRMB were set up in Erramanzil Jalsaudha itself.
The Telangana government itself provided free accommodation for the KRMB office. In 2018, the Central Jal Shakti Ministry directed the board to take steps to shift the KRMB to Vijayawada in AP as per the request of the AP government. After that, in the 9th board meeting held in 2018, this issue was discussed with both the states.
After that, in the 11th board meeting held in 2020, the relocation of the KRMB office was discussed in the Apex Council meetings. Telangana also agreed to relocate the KRMB office to AP. In this context, the board wrote a letter to the AP government requesting it to show a suitable building for the relocation of the office.
However, the KRMB suggested that the AP government set up the office in Visakhapatnam instead of Vijayawada. With this, the board suggested that the AP government provide free accommodation like the one provided by Telangana.
In the 17th board meeting held in 2023, the relocation of the board office was once again discussed. The AP government told the board that a government building was under construction in Visakhapatnam, in which 9,200 square feet would be allocated, and if that was not enough, the office space would be further increased in the future.
The Central Water Resources Department had once again ordered the KRMB office to be shifted to the North Coast Office Complex in Visakhapatnam in December 2023. However, the KRMB made it clear to AP that the distance between Visakhapatnam and major projects in the Krishna Basin is 550 kilometers, and shifting the office there would make monitoring of the projects difficult.
Moreover, the board also told the Center that the AP Reorganization Act-2014 would have to be amended. It explained that as per Section 85, Sub-sections (1), (4), (5) of the Reorganization Act, the KRMB office would have to remain in Hyderabad. The board also made it clear that the board’s shift to AP would be possible only if that act was amended.