25-05-2025
Harish flays Congress, BJP silence on AP's Banakacharla project
BRS leader Harish Rao said that the Congress Government has failed in protecting its share of river water, as Andhra Pradesh has taken up Polavaram-Banakacharla Link Project without any approvals to divert 200 tmc ft of Godavari water to the Krishna and Penna basins, causing a permanent loss and injustice to Telangana.
'Even the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government at the Centre is going all out to help AP in violation of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act and the AP Reorganisation Act, while MPs from the State belonging to BJP and Congress are silent about the 'water theft'. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy's silence is a 'gurudakshina' to his political guru, AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu,' Mr. Harish Rao alleged at a press conference here on Sunday.
He dismissed Mr. Naidu's argument of surplus water available, and sought to know why he had opposed water allocation to Kaleshwaram and Sita Rama projects, if there was surplus water and wrote to the Centre in 2018 against Telangana projects.
It was a different matter that the Centre (its agencies such as CWC and others) had given approvals to the projects stating that the two projects were not new and continuation of the old ones – Kaleshwaram in place of Pranahita-Chevella, Bhakta Ramadasu to give water to the tail-end areas of Sriramsagar and Sita Rama in place of Indira Sagar and Rajiv Sagar, he explained.
Mr. Harish Rao said water was available downstream as Telangana was not utilising its share of 959 tmc ft allocated to Telangana by the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal. He demanded that the State Government convene a special session of the Assembly, adopt a resolution against the illegal project and also move the Supreme Court.
He criticised the Chief Minister for not raising the issue at the NITI Aayog meeting on Saturday. He faulted the two Union Ministers from the State for their silence as the Centre was doing a 'grave injustice' to Telangana by not allocating even the share ensured by the Bachawat Tribunal in lieu of Godavari water diversion to Krishna Delta through Polavaram and other lift irrigation projects.
