VIJAYAWADA: Even as the Telangana government has filed a special leave petition (SLP) against the Rayalaseema Lift Scheme (RLS) proposed by the Andhra Pradesh government, the water resources officials seem to be not too worried about it as the neighboring State’s contention has “no merit”.
The officials wondered as to how Telangana, which has not even consented notifying the jurisdiction of Krishna and Godavari river management boards and went ahead with several projects, has invoked the courts’ jurisdiction.
The officials recalled that the Supreme Court, when a few farmers from Andhra Pradesh moved the Apex Court in 2016 praying that the Telangana government be restrained from going ahead with Palamuru Rangareddy and Dindi Lift Irrigation Scheme (LIS), had referred the matter to the apex council for examination.
“Then Telangana said it would go ahead with the project only to draw the allocated share of water. So, how is RLS, which is also being taken up to draw only our due share of water, a problem now? The Telangana government, which has not even consented for notification of jurisdiction of Krishna River Management Board (KRMB), constituted to look into all these issues, is now invoking the jurisdiction of courts,” a senior official remarked.
Once Andhra Pradesh’s views are sought, the officials are prepared to turn the tables on Telangana, which according to them, had not adhered to any of the stipulated rules, while taking up projects in Krishna Basin and Godavari Basin.
However, as a precautionary measure to ensure that the project does not get entangled in the legal issues, the State had already filed caveat petitions in the High Court as well as the Supreme Court.
“We had filed the caveats much earlier. The notice will come shortly and we will present our arguments. We are prepared to ensure that there are no legal issues pending for the project,” a senior official explained.
When a few farmers from AP moved the Apex Court in 2016 against Palamuru Rangareddy and Dindi Lift Irrigation Scheme, it referred the matter to the apex council. Subsequently, the first apex council meeting was held the same year, but there was little consensus over the construction of the new projects.
“The Supreme Court referred the matter to apex council without staying their projects, for which there is no KRMB’s approval of apex council’s appraisal. In this context, our project shouldn’t have any problem. The route is charted by Telangana and we will also follow the same by adhering to all the procedures in place,” the official explained.
It may be recalled that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao recently claimed that he and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, mutually agreed to go ahead with the projects proposed by the respective states in the first apex council meeting, and that the same was recorded in the minutes of the meeting.However, there is no official record of it in the proceedings prepared by the Union Jal Shakti Ministry.
Precautionary measure
As a precautionary measure to ensure that the project does not get entangled in the legal issues, the State had already filed caveat petitions in the High Court and Supreme Court. “We had filed the caveats much earlier. The notice will come shortly and we will present our arguments,” said an official