Stop GRMB’s ‘review’, Harish tells Centre

BRS’s T. Harish Rao has asked Union Jal Shakti Minister C. R. Patil to stop the Godavari River Management Board from taking up what he describes as a review of approvals already granted to Telangana’s irrigation projects on the Godavari. According to a report on his representation, he cited Section 85 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, and named agenda items 18.3.1, 18.3.6 and 18.3.11 of the Board’s proposed 18th meeting.

What’s on record: the Act creates the GRMB as a statutory body under the administrative control of the Union government, with Delhi empowered to issue directions. The Centre formally constituted GRMB in 2014 and placed it under its watch, alongside an Apex Council that oversees planning and approvals for new projects after appraisal by the Boards and the Central Water Commission. That makes “tell the Board what to do” a Union power, not a state’s polite request.

What isn’t public: the GRMB’s 18th-meeting notice, those agenda texts, or the representation Harish says he sent. The project-by-project approval trail is mixed in the record too — CWC’s own RTI replies note Kaleshwaram’s 2 TMC plan was accepted by the Advisory Committee in 2018 on planning aspects, with design not fully examined, and later revisions under appraisal. So “all approvals final” is a phrase that needs documents, not confidence.

Harish’s list includes Kaleshwaram, Choutupally Hanumantha Reddy, Mukteshwaram, Chanaka–Korata, Modikuntavagu, Kadem–Gudem and Sitarama LIS; he also flags Sammakka Sagar for faster clearances and claims CWC concurrence on hydrology. Those specifics are his assertions for now; the Board papers would settle what GRMB actually planned to discuss.

The BJP-led Centre has the leash on GRMB by statute. If a Congress-run Andhra Pradesh is indeed pushing to reopen Telangana’s clearances through a Central board, Delhi does not need a calendar reminder to say no — it needs a spine.