“Ready to fight even with God” for the sake of water for Telangana is the slogan of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. He said that when it comes to protecting the interests of farmers, he is ready to fight with anyone. He said that we shall ensure that Telangana gets its rightful share of every drop of water in Godavari and Krishna rivers.
Now the Telangana CM is walking the talk and fighting against the Centre and neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh. In the apex council on Krishna river water, he expressed his anger and stated that the state would construct a barrage at Alampur-Pedda Marur to lift three TMC of water per day for agriculture, if neighbouring Andhra Pradesh does not stop construction of “illegal” projects like Pothireddypadu on Krishna River.
He also said the Telangana government would not keep quiet and be ready to protect the interests of its farmers if the Andhra government attempts to render injustice to Telangana in using river waters and tries to usurp its rights.
Telangana CM said, “The injustices being meted out to Telangana in river water allocation has resulted in separate Telangana Statehood movement. The newly formed Telangana state has every right to get its lawful share in the inter-state water allocations.” The irrigation water share that Telangana lost under the united AP, will be reclaimed and achieved under the Telangana state, he added.
The CM said it was unfortunate and painful that despite Telangana lodging several complaints against the Andhra government for constructing illegal projects, Centre’s guidelines on the issue, the AP government is going ahead with the projects.
He condemned the Pothireddypadu Canal construction, which is illegally taking water from Srisailam project, which had no Ayucut and water allocation. This project was also opposed by Telangana society during the separate statehood movement and yet the Andhra government is going ahead with it, he added.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy has also taken a stringent position on the issue. Since Pothireddypadu is a water source for his native Rayalaseema region which is drought prone, Jagan said Krishna River Management Board was unable to exercise its power as its jurisdiction was not notified.
Andhra CM said, “For better water regulation and control of common projects, Srisailam and Nagarjuna Sagar, the Central government should notify the jurisdiction of the boards.” The projects were proposed only to draw AP’s allocated share of water. There is no justification in the objections of Telangana to the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Schemes, he added.