CWC Okayed Banakacharla, Revanth Must Explain Silence: Harish Rao

Hyderabad: The BRS on Tuesday accused Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy of helping Andhra Pradesh pave its way for taking up the Godavari (Polavaram)-Nallamalasagar link project, a modified version of the Polavaram-Banakacharla project. Senior leader of BRS and former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, addressing a press conference, demanded an explanation from the Chief Minister on why Telangana stayed silent for the past several months after the Central Water Commission, this past July, gave an approval to Andhra Pradesh’s proposal of using 200 tmc of flood water inthe  Godavari river for the project.

This permission, Harish Rao said, was given on July 31, after the July 16 meeting between Telangana and AP chief ministers in New Delhi at the Apex Council meet chaired by Union water resources minister. “This is the death knell for Telangana. Even worse, by changing the project outlet to Nallamalasagar, AP has effectively said that it is not taking the water to Krishna river which would have been the case if Banakacharla was the end point. This means AP is going ahead with stealing water from Telangana and Telangana Chief Minister is watching silently,” Harish Rao said.

After the July 16 meeting, Revanth denied that the Banakacharla project was on the agenda or any discussions had taken place despite the matter being on the agenda. The AP irrigation minister Nimmala Rama Naidu told reporters that day that Banakacharla was discussed and the two sides will set up committees to resolve technical issues. This too was denied by Revanth Reddy. “But now, the Congress government on December 23, set up just such a committee headed by its irrigation advisor Adityanath Das, who worked in AP irrigation department and was instrumental in AP filing cases in NGT against the Palamuru irrigation project. Revanth Reddy has effectively handed rights to AP to use 200 tmc of Godvari water and move it to Krishna through the backdoor,” Harish Rao said.

He also said that a writ petition in the Supreme Court by Telangana on December 16 to stop AP from going ahead with the project, becomes infructuous as the committee set up on December 23 will be seen as the state agreeing to resolve the matter amicably with Andhra Pradesh, he said.

He demanded an explanation from Revanth Reddy on these developments and challenged the Chief Minister to introduce a resolution in the Assembly rejecting the CWC permission to AP for the project.