TDP leaders have sought appointments with Lalu Prasad of Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal (United) and Mulayam Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party.
After kicking up a row by trying to visit the Babhli dam, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu is gearing up to kick off a national movement to highlight irregularities in projects by Maharashtra, causing damage to lower riparian states, ones that are at the lower end of a river.
TDP is putting together a team to meet leaders of all national parties in Delhi for the purpose. “Maharashtra’s Babhli is an immediate case that highlights the high-handedness of some states. We plan to meet national leaders of various parties starting Monday. We plan to complete these meetings before July 23, when an all-party delegation from AP [Andhra Pradesh] is likely to meet the prime minister on the issue,” MV Mysoora Reddy, senior TDP leader said.
TDP leaders have sought appointments with Lalu Prasad of Rashtriya Janata Dal, Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal (United) and Mulayam Singh Yadav of Samajwadi Party. “The Godavari tribunal has awarded 60 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water to Maharashtra. But the state is building dams with a capacity to store up to 120 TMC. The immediate impact of Babhli will be on the Sri Ram Sagar project (SRSP), which has a capacity of 120 TMC. The efforts of Maharashtra to use more than the awarded capacity will limit SRSP to just 30 TMC. With this, about six districts in Telangana will go dry,” Reddy said.
He said the national-level movement would be to seek a system to protect the rights of lower riparian states. “Not just AP, other states too have problems. Though there are awards by tribunals, there is no way out in case an upper state violates an order. That is exactly what is happening in Maharashtra,” he said.
SRSP is the only project in Andhra completely based on gravity. The design of Maharashtra, TDP sources and state irrigation department claimed, allows for reverse flow whenever the water level in Babhli drops below the specified level. Though Babhli has a capacity to store up to 2.7 TMC, the water in the barrage would be lifted to create more room. In that case, the gates in Babhli will allow reverse flow of water from SRSP.
“The design is mischievous. We have represented this at various forums, but the Centre does not care and is not coming to the rescue of lower riparian states such as Andhra,” Reddy said.
Meanwhile, chief minister K Rosaiah spoke to his Maharashtra counterpart Ashok Chavan on the issue. “I told him [Chavan] that the way senior public representatives were arrested was not good,” he said.
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