Uttam vows to fight for Telangana's fair share in Krishna waters
Hyderabad: Irrigation minister N
on Friday said the Congress govt has been making every effort to stall the Andhra Pradesh govt from illegally utilising Krishna waters. He asserted that the state govt would go to any extent to protect Telangana's rights over river waters.
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Speaking about the Godavari-Banakcherla link scheme, under which the AP govt plans to divert the floodwaters from Godavari, the minister said Telangana govt wrote several letters to Union minister of Jal Shakti CR Patil and Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, objecting to the neighbouring state's proposal. He said that the scheme violates the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) tribunal award as well as the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
He dismissed the allegations of the BRS that the state govt was not doing anything to stall the irrigation scheme.
"The state govt received a letter from Jal Shakti minister CR Patil last week, who said the Andhra Pradesh govt has not yet submitted a detailed proposal for the Godavari-Banakacherla river linking scheme. He assured the Telangana govt that once the proposal is received from the AP govt, the Central Water Commission (CWC) would examine it in accordance with the existing guidelines, tribunal and inter-state agreements and various provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, and would take appropriate action," Uttam Kumar Reddy told reporters.
He added that the Telangana govt had brought to the notice of the Centre by writing multiple letters that the AP govt was proceeding with calling tenders and awarding contracts for the project, thereby flouting several norms. He urged the Centre not to fund the project and appealed to BJP ministers and MPs from Telangana to cooperate with the state govt on the issue.
The minister accused the BRS of doing injustice to Telangana by agreeing to a water-sharing agreement of 299 TMC for Telangana and 512 TMC for AP in Krishna river since 2015.
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"It was Congress govt that opposed it and has been asking for 700 TMC for Telangana," Uttam said.
The minister further alleged that the BRS govt failed to stop the neighbouring state when it altered the scope of ongoing projects and proposed new schemes to divert the Krishna water.
"While 727 TMC of water was utilised outside the Srisailam project during the previous Congress rule between 2004 and 2014, the diversion rose to over 1,250 TMC between 2014 and 2023, as per the official figures," Uttam Kumar Reddy said while giving the various schemes such as Pothireddypadu head regulator and other schemes.
He accused the BRS govt of helping the Andhra Pradesh govt led by Jaganmohan Reddy earlier to take up the Rayalaseem Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS) and even asked the Centre to postpone the Apex council meeting to allow the AP to complete tendering process in 2020. The minister said that had the BRS govt not spent an additional Rs 68,000 crore on Kaleshwaram and instead allocated funds to other irrigation schemes, the state could have brought an additional 25 lakh acres under irrigation.
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