TS govt has every right to construct Jogulamba barrage: Niranjan Reddy

As per the tribunal's award to the Jurala project, TS has every right to construct the Jogulamba Barrage and utilise the allocated waters, says the Minister

Hyderabad: Coming down heavily on the Andhra Pradesh government for taking up illegal construction of the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS), Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said the Telangana government has every right to construct the Jogulamba barrage.

“When the government in undivided AP failed to disclose the loss suffered by the Telangana region before it, the Bachawat tribunal allocated 17.84 tmc to the Jurala project for irrigation requirements of Palamuru. As per the tribunal’s award to the Jurala project, Telangana has every right to construct the Jogulamba Barrage and utilise the allocated waters,” the Minister told the media here on Saturday.

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Stating that the Telugu Ganga project was taken up to supply 5 tmc water to Chennai after obtaining permissions from Maharashtra and Karnataka, the Minister pointed out that on the pretext of drinking water supply, the water was used for irrigation purposes in gross violation of norms.

The Pothireddypadu canal, he said, was designed to draw 11,000 cusecs, but its capacity was subsequently increased to 44,000 cusecs. “The RLIS is an illegal project, but the Union government is not taking any action against the AP government,” he said, adding that the AP government had given an assurance to the National Green Tribunal that all projects would be taken up only after obtaining due permissions from the Union government. “But, the works are continuing contrary to its assurances,” the Minister charged.

“After the State formation, the Telangana government expressed its willingness to extend all cooperation to the AP government to facilitate utilisation of all the available resources amicably. However, with utter disregard to the friendly approach, the AP government continues to take up unauthorised projects resulting in major losses to Telangana,” the Minister said.

Telangana had made several appeals to the Brijesh Kumar Tribunal to finalise its share in Krishna water. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had personally taken up the matter with the then Union Minister Uma Bharathi, followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and recently with Union Jal Shakthi Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, he said, adding that still, there has been no response from the Union government.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister P Ajay Kumar said the Chief Minister had raised severe objections to the Pothireddypadu issue during the statehood movement. Even as the AP government continues to draw additional water unauthorisedly, BJP leaders in AP come up with different versions and their counterparts in Telangana sing a different tune, the Minister said. On humanitarian grounds, Chandrashekhar Rao was willing to share the Krishna water to meet Rayalaseema’s drinking water requirements, he said.

“But the people here in Telangana still remember how then AP Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy spoke in Telangana’s favour and later changed his stand against it during the 2009 elections,” Ajay Kumar said.

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