KCR wants CM to address fears over Babli project
TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao has demanded that chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy should convene an all-party meeting to clear the apprehensions over Babli project.
He also demanded that the chief minister should lead an all-party delegation to Delhi to find a permanent solution to Godavari river water disputes with Maharashtra.
KCR was speaking at a meeting organised by the Telangana Lecturers Forum (TLF) in connection with the International Women’s Day here on Sunday.
The TRS chief said Kiran Kumar Reddy should ensure that Bachawat tribunal award on the utilisation of Godavari waters is implemented strictly and check violation by any state. There is apprehension that Maharashtra may use in excess of the 60 tmc allocated to it in 1975, he said.
The TRS supreme welcomed indirectly the Supreme Court judgment on the controversial Babli project and criticised the TDP leaders for their opposition. When the TDP was in power, Chandrababu Naidu and others were silent when Maharashtra government started works on the Babli project, he said.
He condemned TDP leader Tummala Nageswar Rao’s statement that TRS was responsible for Babli project. Maharashtra government finalised tenders for the project when Tummala was irrigation minister in Chandrababu Naidu’s Cabinet, Rao said.
The TRS chief alleged that TDP was politicising Babli issue to divert public attention from the T-statehood demand.
TRS leader B Vinod Kumar filed case in the Supreme Court despite the fact that he (KCR) was a Union minister then. And because of that plea, the apex court directing the Central government to appoint a high-level technical committee on Godavari river water sharing, there by protecting the interests of the state, he said.
Rao hoped that the state government would choose an irrigation expert from Telangana to be a member of the high-level committee. “After appointing the committee, if the Telangana region still faces any injustice due to the Babli project, the TRS is ready to fight to protect the interests of Telangana farmers,” he said.
TLF president Katti Venkata Swami presided over the meeting.