Amaravati: TDP demands diversion of Godavari waters within Andra Pradesh

Amaravati: The TDP demanded state government to make any diversion of the Godavari river on Andhra soil, but not in Telangana state.

During a short discussion on the subject "To stabilise ayacut of Krishna delta, Nagarjuna Sagar delta and also to provide drinking water to Rayalaseema, Nellore and Prakasam districts by lifting Godavari water to Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs along with Telangana", the TDP raised many objections and concerns over the proposal, in the Assembly on Thursday.

TDP MLA P Kesav stated that his party did not have any objection to divert the Godavari water to Rayalaseema and other districts, but they would not allow the state government to mortgage AP rights to Telangana state. He explained that the government has proposed to divert AP share of water in Telangana through more than 300 kms of tunnel. The proposed diversion would come all the way by crossing water scarcity districts like Nalgoda, Mahabubnagar, Warangal and other districts in Telangana. Government proposed to divert just 4 TMC of water per day, which would be sufficient for only 40,000 acres of land. But, has to spend huge public money in Telangana for this diversion. Kesav suspected that the Telangana government will not allow the water to reach our projects. He further added that, even, we could not demand or command the Telangana to follow the bilateral agreements, since it has been proving in case of many instances in the country with respect to sharing of river waters.

He suggested the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to consult with the experts, engineers, officials, NGOs, political parties and even farmers, who will be the main stakeholder of the water, before finalising the project. He observed that, if the government believes that their proposal is really good and would benefit AP people, then the Chief Minister must put it in front of the public and take feedback. He suggested that if the government will get negative feedback on it, then they have to drop, without going for egoism.

Further, reiterating the statement of Jagan, Kesav stated that Chief Minister himself accepted that we could not do anything if the upper riparian state misuses the rights. Like in the case of Almatti dam on Krishna River, the Karnataka government had increased the dam height from 519.6 m to more than 524.2 m, thereby increasing their storage capacity at the cost of AP.

Kesav said that the government has been saying that they would divert the water through Laknavaram Cheruvu and Kakatiya canal to Krishna river from Godavari. He stated that through this proposal, we will not get even a single TMC of water.

He further observed that the AP bifurcated on the slogan of Water - Funds - Employment. The Telangana public and leaders agitated against AP on these three issues. But, now, the state government again has been committing the same blunder by giving rights to Telananga on our water and investing our money in that state for diversion project.

The TDP leader said that, still the AP has been facing problems in sharing of river waters with Telangana at various projects and schemes. Despite knowing all these things, government blindly entering into water agreements with Telangana, he added.