Uttam vows to intensify battle against AP's ‘illegal' Banakacherla project
The Telangana government will intensify its determined fight against the Polavaram (Godavari)-Banakacherla (Krishna-Penna) Link Scheme proposed by Andhra Pradesh to protect Telangana's river water rights,, Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy Reddy said on Friday.
He stated that the State Government had written multiple letters to the Centre already highlighting the serious violations by AP and demanding immediate intervention. In a letter to Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil on January 22, he had explained how AP was going ahead with the Banakacherla project to divert Godavari water to Rayalaseema and South Coastal Andhra by proposing a 150 tmc ft capacity reservoir at Bollapalli in Guntur district.
In an informal interaction with the media, he pointed out that the project was unveiled by AP during a press conference on December 29 last year without submitting a Detailed Project Report (DPR) or seeking any mandatory approvals.
He stressed that AP had not obtained technical clearances from the Central Water Commission (CWC) and approvals from the Godavari River Management Board (GRMB), Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) and the Apex Council, as mandated by the AP Reorganisation Act 2014.
'No project on inter-state rivers could proceed without these approvals. AP is brazenly bypassing all statutory mechanisms,' Mr. Reddy said and accused AP of misusing Sections 46(2) and 46(3) of the APRA 2014 to seek funds from the Union Finance Ministry under the backward regions development clause.
He made it clear that these sections could not override Part IX of the Act, which deals with inter-state river water management, requiring technical clearance, inter-state consultations and Apex Council approval before proceeding with any project. He noted that AP's project was also violating the Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal (GWDT) Award of 1980, which apportioned 966 tmc ft water to Telangana out of a total of 1,486 tmc ft.
Mr. Reddy alleged that AP was trying to grab unquantified and unallocated 'flood waters' that belong to both the States. 'These so-called 'flood waters' are not extra water that AP can claim. They are subject to equitable sharing and any diversion directly impacts Telangana's drought-prone regions', he said adding that he had mentioned all these aspects in his letters too.
Stating that AP had neither shared any proposal with Telangana nor provided any DPR for scrutiny by the relevant boards. He noted that AP had not sent the project's DPR along with its multiple letters to the Union Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Jal Shakti seeking funds and termed it an an attempt to mislead the Centre and push the project without scrutiny.
He also faulted the previous Bharat Rashtra Samith (BRS) Government for keeping quiet on the Rayalseema Lift Irrigation Project and expansion of the Pothireddypadu Head Regulator (PRP).
Harish Rao's counter
Meanwhile, BRS leader and former minister for irrigation T. Harish Rao rebutted Mr. Uttam Reddy stating that it was the BRS Government that had secured a National Green Tribunal (NGT) stay order on RLIP and it was the Telangana Congress leaders who had kept quiet when late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had expanded the capacity of PRP four times officially in 2007.
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