Seven projects back on the block? Prove it
KTR warns of a BRS siege if the GRMB takes up “cancelling approvals” for seven Telangana projects. The Congress in Telangana and the BJP’s MPs are welcome to discover their voice any time now. The agenda, meanwhile, is not public.
The alleged agenda remains unpublished.
K.T. Rama Rao on Monday warned that the BRS will lay siege to Jal Soudha if the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB) takes up what he called a move to cancel approvals for seven Telangana projects on August 18. He asked the Congress government to boycott the meeting and get the item struck off. According to a Telugu daily’s report of his remarks, he said Andhra Pradesh is pressing for the cancellations after the Centre had granted approvals.
Two things can be stated on the record. One, the seven-project fight is not new. Union Jal Shakti told Telangana in 2020 not to proceed with seven specified works — including components of Kaleshwaram and Sitarama — until DPRs were appraised by the GRMB/CWC and sanctioned by the Apex Council. A Telangana High Court judgment in 2022 reproduces that language. Two, the KRMB/GRMB framework exists and holds records of agendas and minutes. What is missing so far is any published GRMB agenda for an August 18 meeting, any AP submission seeking “cancellation”, or any central order proposing it.
KTR’s charge is clear; the paperwork is not. If the Congress government in Telangana attends a meeting that floats “cancellation” without putting the agenda on the table, that is on them. The BJP’s MPs from Telangana, busy elsewhere, might find five minutes to ask the BJP-led Centre to publish the agenda it supposedly controls. Until then, the only thing on record is an old Union demand for appraisal — and a fresh warning from the BRS.