Set up KRMB office in Kurnool: Rayalaseema panel

VIJAYAWADA:  The Rayalaseema Saguneeti Sadhana Samithi wrote a letter to the Krishna River Management Board chairman urging him to set up the KRMB office in Kurnool for proper management of projects on Krishna river instead of Visakhapatnam as proposed by the Andhra Pradesh government.

Samithi president Bojja Dasaratha Rami Reddy, in the letter, stated that as per the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014, the KRMB office should be set up in AP. The State government has proposed to set up the KRMB office in Visakhapatanam, but the decision is condemnable as it does injustice to the people of Rayalaseema, who are dependent on Krishna for their irrigation and drinking water needs. Irrigation projects on Krishna like Srisailam and Nagarajuna Sagar can be monitored effectively by the KRMB if the office is set up in Kurnool due to its proximity to AP and Telangana, he opined.

Dasaratha Rami Reddy said setting up of the KRMB office in Kurnool has been intensely debated and the location is unanimous choice of the people of the State. At a programme organised by Sri Kolli Nageswara Rao Knowledge Centre and Andhra Pradesh Samagraabhivrudhi Vedika on July 6, 2021, representatives of various political parties and farmers associations operating in Krishna ayacut discussed the necessity and suitability of the place at which the KRMB office has to be set up. It was resolved to urge the KRMB to set up its office in Kurnool, he recalled.

Visakhapatnam is not suitable for setting up of the KRMB office as it is far away from Krishna ayacut. Vijayawada being in Krishna delta gets water from the catchment area below Nagarjuna Sagar and from Godavari through Pattiseema lift irrigation scheme.

A round table meeting organised by the Samithi in Nandyal on Monday, unanimously passed a resolution seeking establishment of the KRMB office in Kurnool. It was further decided to send the resolution copies to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the KRMB chairman. Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, Andhra Pradesh Farmers Federation, Nandi Rythu Samakhya and various farmers’ associations have backed it.