The Hindu : Govt. to expose violation of award

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 14, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Govt. to expose violation of award

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD JULY 13. The State Government has decided to expose the "complete violations'' of the Bachawat award by Karnataka and Maharashtra by gathering documentary evidence on the utilisation of river waters in excess of the permitted quota by the two States.

Towards this end, the Government has deputed four teams to get the exact picture of utilisation of Godavari, Krishna, Pennar and Tungabhadra waters by Karnataka and Maharashtra. The teams, comprising experts, are armed with all required material including video cameras and they are expected to submit their report in a day or two.

Disclosing this at a press conference on Sunday, the Minister for Major Irrigation, Kadiam Srihari, however, refused to elaborate on the issue on the plea that it would not be appropriate to divulge all details at this juncture. The violations in the matter of utilisation of river waters by Karnataka would be taken to the notice of the Centre as well as the Central Water Commission since it was hitting inflows into the four major projects of the State in the Krishna basin. "The Centre and the CWC should intervene in the matter to resolve the dispute as the Karnataka Government is not caring the directives issued by the Central Government,'' he said.

Accusing Karnataka of misinterpreting the terms in the Bachawat Tribunal award and utilising water over and above its allocated share, he said while Karnataka was permitted to use about 15 tmcft additionally on the "existing projects'' in case there was surplus water, the neighbouring State was taking up new projects at Singatalur, Upper Tunga, Basapur and other places in gross violation of the Bachawat award. "Karnataka's bluff was exposed when it submitted different reports on the water reallocation within the State to the Supreme Court and the CWC,'' he said.

The Minister said the Government had allocated Rs. 500 crores to the Irrigation Department in addition to the Rs. 2,180 crores allocated in the budget for taking up works to create an additional ayacut of 5 lakh acres. The funds would be mobilised through irrigation bonds and it was proposed to set up a single window system for clearances and approvals to works without any delay.

The Government had also permitted the department to recruit 300 assistant executive engineers, civil and mechanical engineering faculties, through the APPSC. This apart, it was decided to place emphasis on water conservation in some of the major projects like Sriramsagar, Nagarjunasagar, Tungabhadra, Somasila and Jurala as well as in some medium irrigation projects. Towards this end, it was decided to depute a Chief Engineer-rank official to each project to monitor and regulate water releases and ensure at least 10 per cent saving.

Refuting the Congress' criticism that the Government was neglecting the irrigation sector, he said the TDP Government in fact had spent as much as Rs. 8,864 crores on the irrigation sector over the past eight years as against the Rs. 2,380 crores spent by the then Congress Government between 1989-94.

Giving details of the amounts spent on different projects, he said the stage was set for completion of SRSP Stage I by December 31 while the Jurala project would be completed by the end of the current financial year. The detailed project report of the Godavari lift irrigation scheme stage I at Gangaram with an estimated cost of Rs. 930 crores was prepared and works on the project would be grounded soon. Efforts were under way to commence works on Kalwakurthy, Bheema stage I while clearances would be given to Thotapalli, Veligallu, Alisagar, Jhanjhavati and other projects soon, he added.

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