BRS raises alarm over State govt. inaction on APs Polavaram-Banakacherla Project

Senior chief of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and former minister for irrigation T. Harish Rao has sounded a critical warning on the approaching menace posed by the Polavaram-Banakacherla Link Project (PBLP) being taken up “illegally” by Andhra Pradesh to divert an enormous amount of Godavari water to the Krishna and Penna Basins, undermining the rights of Telangana over Godavari waters.

Addressing a press convention right here on Saturday, he accused each the BJP-led authorities on the Centre and the Congress authorities within the State of negligence and complicity within the matter that might hurt the riparian rights of Telangana endlessly, if A.P. was allowed to go-ahead with PBLP.

He defined that BRS had been elevating issues over the AP’s plans again and again. The A.P. authorities, with the lively cooperation of the BJP on the Centre, was transferring forward by clearing all hurdles. The letter addressed by Union Minister of Jal Shakti C.R. Patil to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on September 23 clearly signifies that the (Pre-Feasibility Report) of PBLP was underneath techno-economic appraisal and the approval course of was underneath approach, he claimed.

“Nearly 20 days have handed, but Mr. Revanth Reddy has not opposed it. Instead of questioning how a DPR may very well be primarily based on floodwaters, which is prohibited by the Central Water Commission (CWC) norms, he’s remaining silent. Karnataka had reacted strongly to the AP’s plans in its September 17 letter to the MoJS, warning that it will block 112 tmc ft of Krishna water if the mission was allowed. This would put Telangana in a precarious state of affairs as Karnataka would maintain Krishna water and A.P. would take away Godavari water.

He identified that Maharashtra too had addressed a strongly-worded letter, opposing using floodwater for PBLP.