Latest news with #APReorganisationAct2014
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
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. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 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. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "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.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Uttam vows to intensify battle against AP's ‘illegal' Banakacherla project
HYDERABAD The Telangana government will intensify its determined fight against the Polavaram (Godavari)-Banakacherla (Krishna-Penna) Link Scheme proposed by Andhra Pradesh to protect Telangana's river water rights,, Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy Reddy said on Friday. He stated that the State Government had written multiple letters to the Centre already highlighting the serious violations by AP and demanding immediate intervention. In a letter to Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil on January 22, he had explained how AP was going ahead with the Banakacherla project to divert Godavari water to Rayalaseema and South Coastal Andhra by proposing a 150 tmc ft capacity reservoir at Bollapalli in Guntur district. In an informal interaction with the media, he pointed out that the project was unveiled by AP during a press conference on December 29 last year without submitting a Detailed Project Report (DPR) or seeking any mandatory approvals. He stressed that AP had not obtained technical clearances from the Central Water Commission (CWC) and approvals from the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB), Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and the Apex Council, as mandated by the AP Reorganisation Act 2014. 'No project on inter-state rivers could proceed without these approvals. AP is brazenly bypassing all statutory mechanisms,' Mr. Reddy said and accused AP of misusing Sections 46(2) and 46(3) of the APRA 2014 to seek funds from the Union Finance Ministry under the backward regions development clause. He made it clear that these sections could not override Part IX of the Act, which deals with inter-state river water management, requiring technical clearance, inter-state consultations and Apex Council approval before proceeding with any project. He noted that AP's project was also violating the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) Award of 1980, which apportioned 966 tmc ft water to Telangana out of a total of 1,486 tmc ft. Mr. Reddy alleged that AP was trying to grab unquantified and unallocated 'flood waters' that belong to both the States. 'These so-called 'flood waters' are not extra water that AP can claim. They are subject to equitable sharing and any diversion directly impacts Telangana's drought-prone regions', he said adding that he had mentioned all these aspects in his letters too. Stating that AP had neither shared any proposal with Telangana nor provided any DPR for scrutiny by the relevant boards. He noted that AP had not sent the project's DPR along with its multiple letters to the Union Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Jal Shakti seeking funds and termed it an an attempt to mislead the Centre and push the project without scrutiny. He also faulted the previous Bharat Rashtra Samith (BRS) Government for keeping quiet on the Rayalseema Lift Irrigation Project and expansion of the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator (PRP). Harish Rao's counter Meanwhile, BRS leader and former minister for irrigation T. Harish Rao rebutted Mr. Uttam Reddy stating that it was the BRS Government that had secured a National Green Tribunal (NGT) stay order on RLIP and it was the Telangana Congress leaders who had kept quiet when late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had expanded the capacity of PRP four times officially in 2007.
