Kavitha raises alarm over Polavaram backwaters threat

Demands Telangana government to reclaim Bhadrachalam villages from Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: Raising alarm over the adverse impact of Polavaram project backwaters on Telangana, BRS MLC and Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha demanded that the State government initiate immediate measures to protect them. She also asked the Congress government to force Andhra Pradesh to return five villages in Bhadrachalam region which were merged forcibly into Andhra Pradesh after State bifurcation.

She wrote a letter to Union Minister and BJP Telangana president G Kishan Reddy in this regard, urging him to ensure that these issues are addressed during the ‘Pragathi Agenda’ meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the Chief Ministers of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh, on June 25.

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Addressing a roundtable meeting on Polavaram backwaters, organised by Telangana Jagruthi in Hyderabad on Friday, Kavitha said Purushothapatnam, Gundala, Ettapaka, Kannayagudem, and Pichukalapaka were unfairly merged into Andhra Pradesh.

She warned that the increased spillway capacity of Polavaram project to 50 lakh cusecs poses a severe threat to Telangana. “The backwaters are permanently flooding Bhadrachalam. Even the sacred temple of Lord Ram is under threat of submergence,” she said, urging Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to press the Centre to reclaim the villages.

Further, the BRS MLC pointed out that around 1,000 acres in Purushothapatnam, belonging to Lord Rama at Sri Sitarama Swamy temple of Bhadrachalam, were lost to Andhra Pradesh, due to merger of the villages. “Lord Ram is in Telangana, but his lands are in Andhra. This is unacceptable,” she said, demanding protection of temple assets.

She called for a joint flood survey, legal action if required, to prevent flooding of villages abutting Godavari river in Bhadrachalam region. She reminded that Telangana Jagruthi had already approached the Supreme Court on Polavaram project in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and will explore legal options to safeguard these villages.

Representatives of various political parties, civil rights organisations and people’s organisations from Bhadrachalam participated in the round table meeting. The participants passed resolutions on the issues discussed during the roundtable meeting which will be sent to the government for necessary action.