BRS Demands House Special Session

Hyderabad: Former irrigation minister and senior BRS leader T. Harish Rao on Saturday demanded that the Telangana government immediately declare its opposition to Andhra Pradesh government’s Godavari-Banakacharla link project, and urged Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to call for a special session of the Assembly to discuss the issue, and pass a unanimous resolution against the project and send the same to the Centre.

Harish Rao, during a detailed presentation on the project at Telangana Bhavan, the BRS headquarters, also demanded that the two Union ministers from Telangana, G. Kishan Reddy, and Bandi Sanjay Kumar to intervene and “stop AP from going ahead with the project.”

Harish Rao said that AP has already submitted a pre-feasibility report to the Central Water Commission and that this report clearly indicates that AP is preparing not just to lift 200 TMCft of Godavari water from Banakacharla but up to 400 TMCft a year by creating infrastructure keeping possible ‘future needs’ in mind.

“Irrigation minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy recently said he received a letter on May 28 from Jal Shakti minister C.R. Patil that the latter will act on the project as per law and there was no project report yet. But a CWC letter on May 23, said it received the pre-feasibility report,” Harish Rao said. This he alleged, is proof that the irrigation minister reacts to the BRS charges by releasing backdated letters to the media in a bid to show that he is fighting for Telangana. “Telangana needs action, not backdated letters for the sake of publicity,” he said.

He further demanded that the state government approach the Supreme Court to stop AP from going ahead with the project. “Why is there silence on this robbery of our state’s water by Andhra Pradesh which is planning to call for tenders for the project by the end of this month? The Congress and BJP leaders must wake up and take steps to protect Telangana’s share of Godavari water,” he added.

He also demanded that Revanth Reddy seek a meeting of the ‘Apex Council’, comprising the two chief ministers and the Union Jal Shakti minister on the Banakacharla project. “If he does that the Centre will have no option but to call for the meeting, and Telangana can say it is against the project,” he said.