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New Indian Express

Harish Rao slams Centre, AP over Godavari water; seeks special Assembly session

HYDERABAD: Alleging that the state and Central governments failed to protect the Telangana water rights, BRS leader and former irrigation minister T Harish Rao on Sunday demanded that the government convene a special session of the Legislative Assembly and discuss the Godavari-Banakacherla irrigation project taken up by the Andhra Pradesh government. Speaking to reporters, he said that the Godavari-Banakacherla project was a 'well-orchestrated conspiracy' to divert 200 tmcft of Godavari water to AP, which would be detrimental to Telangana. He alleged that Andhra Pradesh is aggressively pushing forward with the Banakacherla project without securing any mandatory approvals — neither from the apex council, nor from the Central Water Commission (CWC). He pointed out that no consent was given by Telangana or other riparian states to the project, which is a violation of the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. Accusing the BJP-led Central government of adopting double standards, Harish Rao pointed out that while Polavaram was granted national project status and over `80,000 crore funds, Telangana's Kaleshwaram and Sitarama irrigation projects were denied similar recognition. 'Now, the Centre is reportedly offering to fund 50% cost of Banakacharla through grants besides allowing Andhra Pradesh to raise the remaining funds via FRBM-limit exemptions, a privilege never extended to Telangana. Effectively, the Centre is planning to fund a project, which has no approvals,' he said. The former irrigation minister alleged that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy failed to act or even raise his voice against the Godavari-Banakacherla project. He said though Revanth Reddy attended NITI Aayog meeting, he did not speak against the project.