The government will decide on whether it should file a review/clarification petition over the Supreme Court’s February 28 judgment validating the Babli project built by Maharashtra on the Godavari, only after consulting legal experts and conduct of a second all-party meeting soon.
This was conveyed by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to leaders of political parties at an all-party meeting convened by him here on Thursday. During the interaction, Mr. Reddy reportedly promised to lead an all-party delegation to the Prime Minister to highlight the adverse impact of Babli on 18 lakh acres of ayacut of Sriramsagar and many other projects in the Godavari basin. He is also stated to have assured Opposition leaders that he would depute experts up to Nasik covering river gauge stations to ascertain whether the utilisation of water by Maharashtra, including 2.7 tmcft permitted under Babli, was within its allocation of 60 tmcft. Major Irrigation Minister P. Sudarshan Reddy, who attended the meeting along with two other Ministers from Telangana, Ponnala Lakshmaiah (Information Technology) and D. Sridhar Babu (Civil Supplies), told reporters that all-out efforts would be made to protect the State’s interests at any cost. During the discussions, the leaders of TDP, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, YSR Congress, CPI, CPI(M), BJP, MIM and Lok Satta, were unanimous that the petition must be filed to achieve this.
They also proposed steps to make the three-member committee being constitutedto regulate flows into the Godavari from Babli, effective by locating its office at Basar or Hyderabad.
