Seeks all-party meeting and special Assembly session
Hyderabad: BRS leader T. Harish Rao on Sunday charged that the Congress government in the and the BJP-led NDA at the Centre had conspired to divert 200 tmc ft of Godavari water to Andhra Pradesh through the controversial Banakacharla project, which the TD government was pushing hard.
Talking to newsmen here, Harish Rao said the Centre was reportedly offering to fund 50 per cent of Banakacharla through grants, while allowing Andhra Pradesh to raise the remaining via FRBM-limit exemptions, a privilege that was never extended to Telangana.
He pointed out that while Polavaram was granted national project status and received over `80,000 crore in Central funding, Telangana’s major irrigation projects like Kaleshwaram, Palamuru and Sitarama had been denied similar recognition.
He said that Chandrababu Naidu, as former chief minister, had written multiple letters to stop Telangana’s projects, including Kaleshwaram, Palamuru-Rangareddy, and Bhakta Ramadasu, citing environmental and legal concerns. Naidu had moved the National Green Tribunal and raised objections with the Centre.
However, the same leaders were executing a completely new Godavari project without any scrutiny, Harish Rao charged.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his Cabinet colleagues had failed to raise their voice against Banakcharla at Sunday’s Niti Aayog meeting, he said. “In fact, Revanth Reddy who once claimed that the Niti Aayog was biased, is now proudly posing for photos at its meetings,” he remarked sarcastically.
The BRS leader also questioned the silence of eight Congress MPs and eight BJP MPs from Telangana on the Bankacharla project.
Harish Rao demanded that the state government convene an all-party meeting immediately to address the Banakacharla crisis, and an Assembly session to pass a unanimous resolution opposing the project.
He warned that Andhra Pradesh’s strategy was to pre-empt the next Godavari Tribunal. By completing Banakacharla before the tribunal was formed, AP planned to argue that since public money had already been spent, water allocation must follow. “This is an attempt to legitimise theft,” he said.
Citing the Bachawat Tribunal’s ruling, Harish Rao noted that when 80 tmc ft was diverted through Polavaram, Telangana was entitled to 45 tmc ft, Karnataka to 25, and Maharashtra to 14. “Today, AP plans to divert 200 tmc ft. By the same ratio, Telangana should receive over 112 tmc ft, which could be allocated to Palamuru, Kalwakurthy, Dindi, and other parched regions. Yet, when Telangana applied for 45 tmc ft as part of a detailed project report, the Centre returned the proposal, while Karnataka and Maharashtra were granted their shares,” he charged.
