No compromise on Telangana's due share in river waters, says CM Revanth Reddy

Hyderabad, July 1 (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Tuesday made it clear that there will be no compromise on protecting the state’s due share in Godavari and Krishna waters.

He said the state government would continue to fight politically and legally to protect the state’s rights.

The Chief Minister was speaking at a programme, where he made a PowerPoint presentation on the Godavari-Banakacherla project proposed to be taken up by Andhra Pradesh.

Members of the State Assembly, the Legislative Council and senior officials attended the programme.

He lashed out at former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy for what he called playing a spoilsport in the protection of the state’s interests.

Revanth Reddy blamed KCR for the present crisis in water sharing between the two states, saying it was KCR who permitted Andhra Pradesh to utilise Godavari water without specific allocations. He alleged that at a meeting held on June 18, 2015, then chief minister KCR and then irrigation minister Harish Rao signed the ‘death warrant’ for Telangana by signing the water allocation with their Andhra Pradesh counterparts.

“Out of 1486 TMC in the Godavari basin, 968 TMC were allocated to Telangana and 518 TMC to Andhra. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took advantage of KCR’s statement about the availability of 3,000 TMC of flood waters by constructing projects without allocation of water,” said Revanth Reddy.

He claimed that KCR had made a PowerPoint presentation before the then Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and allowed the neighbouring state to lift Godavari water. “The two CMs – KCR and Jagan helped mutually and deprived Telangana of its share of water in the Godavari. Now, KCR and Harish Rao are peddling lies on water issues only for political survival.”

The CM dared Harish Rao to come for a debate on the Godavari and Krishna water for two days in the Assembly.

Stating that Telangana’s share of flood water will be finalised only after the completion of the pending projects in the state, the Chief Minister stressed that the two Telugu states should hold talks to arrive at a conclusion on the share of flood water and surplus water.

Revanth Reddy said that Andhra Pradesh was objecting to Telangana in construction projects in the Krishna basin. He wondered why the neighbouring state was opposing projects even after the allocation of assured water to Telangana projects.

The Chief Minister criticised KCR for not completing pending projects - Kalwakurthy, Palamuru, SLBC, Bima, Nettempadu, etc. Thus, Telangana could not use 299 TMC of water.

The Chief Minister came down heavily on Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy for not supporting the state government in resolving the issues pending before the Union government. “The Centre is supposed to play the role of big brother, but instead it is filing litigations. Why is Kishan Reddy not taking responsibility in this matter? The BRS party wants to keep alive the Banakacherla controversy and gain political benefits. Kishan Reddy is indirectly helping BRS,” he said.

The people of Telangana elected eight BJP MPs, but there is no use of them to safeguard the state's interests, the CM alleged.

He appealed to the newly elected BJP state president, N. Ramachander Rao, to come to the rescue of the state by taking the Godavari water dispute as the first priority. He urged Rao to bring the issue to the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the state ministers and officials are ready to furnish all the information in this regard.

--IANS

ms/uk