Telangana protests shifting of KRMB office to Vizag
AP Irrigation department officials said there were no second thoughts on the decision of shifting the Board’s office to Visakhapatnam
Hyderabad: Even as Telangana State government sought Krishna River Management Board’s (KRMB) intervention in ensuring that the Board headquarters is located in Krishna basin and not shifted to Visakhapatnam, the Andhra Pradesh government has given in principle nod to officials concerned to shift the office to Visakhapatnam.
AP Irrigation department officials said there were no second thoughts on the decision of shifting the Board’s office to Visakhapatnam. “We got in principle orders to shift the office to Visakhapatnam,” an official from AP Irrigation department revealed.
While Telangana Irrigation department officials took strong objection to the AP government’s move, officials from the neighbouring State argued about the location of Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) office in Hyderabad.
In a letter addressed to the KRMB member secretary on January 15, 2021, Telangana Irrigation and CAD department Engineer-in-Chief (General), Inter-State Water Resources, C. Muralidhar requested the Board to ensure that its headquarters is located within the Krishna basin. He said that Visakhapatnam, in the first place, was not in Krishna basin. It would also be difficult for officials to attend KRMB meetings as Visakhapatnam was located about 618 km from Hyderabad.
The shifting would result in more expenditure towards travel and accommodation for members and senior engineers along with subordinate staff, he said.
The support staff does not qualify for air travel and they have to travel by train a day before. In March 2019, the KRMB had circulated a note for shifting its headquarters from Hyderabad to Vijayawada and the KRMB Chairman had also visited Vijayawada to finalise accommodation from the shortlisted buildings, the letter said.
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