The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Andhra Pradesh committee (Kanu Sanyal) has demanded the Central government to constitute a body to monitor the water being used by Maharashtra from the Babli project.
The party central committee member P. Jaswanth Rao, addressing a press conference along with state leader Koppula Kotaiah and Krishna district secretary Muppalla Bhargava Sri, demanded formation of a board with representatives of both Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra to monitor the usage of water from the project. Maharashtra should restrict itself to using less than two tmcft of water from the project.
The CPI (ML) also demanded the Central government to develop the mechanism required for the proper distribution of river waters between the different states. The instigation of dispute between the different states over river water share would affect the development of the country.
Projects should be constructed to utilise surplus water for the irrigation of areas that fell in the rain shadow zone between the east and west coastal lines. It was a shame that large extents of land did not have irrigation facilities even after 63 years of independence. This was a ploy by the bourgeoisie to provide cheap labour to the industries in the country, they alleged.
Machinery needed
A permanent machinery was needed to ensure that the river water was distributed equitably between the different regions for the overall development of the country, the leaders said.
