Congress govt. won’t compromise on water rights of Telangana, asserts CM Revanth Reddy

HYDERABAD

The Congress government would not compromise on the interests and rights of Telangana in the matter of river waters and they would wage a political, technical and legal battle towards that end, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said here on Tuesday.

Speaking at a meeting of the party legislators, members of Parliament, Chairpersons of the Corporations and Commissions and Advisors as also the functionaries of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) organised to give a powerpoint presentation on the Polavaram-Banakacherla Link Project (PBLP) being taken up by Andhra Pradesh, he along with Minister for Irrigation N. Uttam Kumar Reddy asked them to counter the misinformation campaign being run by the Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy during a power point presentation on the Polavaram-Banakacherla link project, in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Chief Minister noted that it was former K. Chandrasekhar Rao and T. Harish Rao who were at the helm of the irrigation portfolio, but they had harmed the State’s interests in the matter of Krishna waters first and later Godavari waters. At the first Apex Council meeting held in September 2016, the then Chief Minister (KCR) and Minister for Irrigation (Harish Rao) had agreed for only 299 tmc ft water share in Krishna against 512 tmc ft to A.P. and their decision had proved to be the death knell for Telangana.

Despite having much higher catchment area, the previous government had agreed for only 32% water of 811 tmc ft assured water allocated to combined A.P. Besides, the BRS government had not completed any of the pending projects during its 10-year rule and as if it was not enough in a meeting with his A.P. counterpart then Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao had offered to give away Godavari water, stating that thousands of tmc ft was flowing waste into sea every year.

However, the BRS leaders were shedding crocodile tears now after doing everything against the interests of Telangana and blaming the Congress government of inaction. The Chief Minister blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too for not making even a small effort to protect the water rights of Telangana.

On the PBLP, the Chief Minister said the A.P.’s proposal was not outrightly rejected but was told to get clearances first before seeking for its appraisal and added that there was a need to wage a relentless fight to protect the rights of Telangana in the matter of river waters.

Meanwhile, Mr. Uttam Reddy said it was due to efforts of the Congress government that the expert appraisal committee of the MoEF had returned the A.P.’s proposal.