The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) in practice become an AP board as the Telangana government failing to depute its share of engineers for a long time. Although several posts related to Telangana in the board have been vacant for a long time, the government is not taking any initiative to fill them.
As a result, the board is now reportedly preparing to fill those posts with AP engineers on the pretext of administrative reasons as the Telangana quota posts have not been filled for a long time. Telangana engineers are cautioning the government that this is very embarrassing for Telangana in the board. But the Congress government has not responded no matter how many times they have brought this matter to the attention of the state government.
According to the AP Reorganization Act, river boards have been formed between Telangana and AP to resolve disputes and distribute the Krishna and Godavari river waters. The center appoints a chairman, member secretary and two members in these boards. In the rest of the board secretariat, SEs, EEs, DEEs and AEEs will be appointed from both the states in equal proportion.
There are 22 posts in KRMB, 2 SEs (Superintendent Engineer), 4 EEs (Executive Engineer), 6 DEEs (Deputy Executive Engineer), 10 AEEs (Assistant Executive Engineer). These posts should be filled in equal proportion with officers from both the states. Apart from these, there are posts of Electrical Engineer, Accounts Officer, Superintendent, Senior and Junior Assistant.
However, 50% of the posts related to AP have been filled with officers from that state. Currently, many posts are vacant in the 50% quota for Telangana. One EE post is still vacant. Another EE post is going to fall vacant next month. Out of the 5 AEE posts, only one AEE is there, while four posts are vacant. The tenure of the one AEE is going to end next month.
With this, all the key matters in the board are currently being sorted out by AP officials. The Telangana State Irrigation Department has already invited applications from employees interested in filling the posts related to Telangana quota for about 4 times since last March. However, no state irrigation employees are showing interest in going on deputation to KRMB.
As KRMB headquarter is set to be shifted to AP as per the AP Reorganization Act, no one has come forward on the grounds that if that happens, they will have to go to AP and perform their duties. Earlier, officers working in the board were paid 25 percent incentive on basic pay. Recently, that was also cancelled. Due to this, state officials are not interested in going to the board. The Congress government is also not taking any initiative to fill the posts in the board.
